Nothing Personal
by ohfortuneslost
Summary: After reaching the top of the charts with his band, Eric Northman is wondering what's next, and finds his mind being drawn back to his ex-girlfriend. AH. AU. ESN.
1. Break Your Little Heart

**Disclaimer: Don't own. At all. Bummer. I do not own All Time Low, pity really; all lyrics used in this story are theirs, unless otherwise stated.**

**Inspired by the album Nothing Personal by All Time Low.**

_Wide awake, my mistake, so predictable  
You were great, I was fake, nothing personal  
I'm walking, who's laughing now?  
(Who's laughing now, who's laughing now?)  
_

**EPOV**

I was working on a song for our newest album, trying to come up with the chorus, and becoming increasingly frustrated when it wasn't working out, when the phone rang.

That was just the last straw, I was already annoyed and fed up with the world, so when I picked up, I snapped out, "_What?_"

As if the devil himself were sending me messengers, the voice of one the two people in the world who could make me lose my cool floated into my ear, sounding amused. "Well, since you're already so chipper, I'll just give you the bad news now."

I sighed, looking at the strewn sheet music and notebook paper that littered my bed, and removed my guitar, placing it gently in its stand. Maybe this was fate's way of telling me it was time to take a break.

I couldn't agree more.

"What do you want Pam, this isn't a good time to tell something bad." I padded into the kitchen hoping to find something to eat, though I was fairly certain it had been a long time since I had eaten.

"When is it ever a good time to hear bad news?" For God's sake, she actually sounded sincere in her curiosity.

"Pamela" I growled out.

"Fine, asshole, since you are being so charming, I'll tell you. Go to eBay and type in the key phrases 'Rolling Stone', 'Eric Northman', 'original photo'."

I shifted the phone, to prop against my ear so I could type with both hands. "What is this about Pam? Rolling Stone is auctioning off one of my shirts or something?"

It was not unheard of, about once a month, Rolling Stone magazine pulled a couple of items out of their warehouse of rock n' roll goodies they had collected over the years, and auctioned them off, with half of the proceeds going to charity.

"You wish." And we were back to amused, which made me doubly curious as to the item up for auction, and wondering why Pam would care so much. When the page finally uploaded, I had my answer.

Oh hell no.

For there, the number one item on the page, currently going for well over 8000 dollars, was the original copy of a photo that had been declared by many as 'one of the most iconic rock n' roll images of all time'.

I was familiar with that photo.

Once upon a time I was familiar with the photographer as well.

My heart broke all over again as well blocked memories came rushing back to the forefront of my mind, and it was all I could do to keep from breaking down.

"_Why do you want to sit in the audience, Sookie? You could see such much better from backstage."_

"_That's no fun Eric! I want to be in the audience, and really feel the music! Plus," She added, waving a camera around, "I want to get a photo of you in all of your rock god sexiness."_

_I chuckled and pulled her in closer to me, not kissing her, just staring deeply in my eyes, and thinking that it just wasn't possible to love anyone this much._

"Eric?" I heard Pam intone softly. "Eric, are you alright?"

"Why now, after all these years? Why that photo out of all the other ones?" I croaked out, still staring disbelievingly at the computer screen, even though I had clicked on the photo to see it enlarged.

"I don't want to say it but…." She hedged, "But…."

I sighed again, for what felt like the millionth time today. "Spit it out Pamela."

She let out a sigh of her own before continuing. "It was probably the one that would fetch the most money."

Logically, that made the most sense, but Sookie didn't do things logically. She did things with her heart, spur of the moment, wonderful, crazy things, following her heart, and I loved her for it.

"Eric?" She called my name out once more.

"Thanks for telling me Pam, I'll call you later." I hung up, and just buried my face into my hands, this was driving me crazy.

The burning questions, I had to know _why _she would put that photo up for auction, five years after we'd broken up, and I'd had no contact with her since.

What Pamela had said probably had some kernel of truth to it; she probably _did _the money, as much as it pained me to think about that, while I sat in my penthouse apartment.

I seethed; it probably had something to do with her jackass of a brother; the fucker was always mooching off his generous and loving sister and grandmother.

I lifted my head from my hands and ran them over my face tiredly. I rolled my shoulders, sighing, trying to relax, and get her off my mind, out of my head.

I straightened up determinedly; I knew what I had to do. I quickly set up an eBay account, went back to the photo, and clicked on the button that said, 'Place bid.'

When I was satisfied with my bid of 20000 dollars, I clicked out of the window and powered down my computer, and went back to my room and flopped face down onto my bed, trying not to feel guilty about what I'd just done. She'd never know it was me, and after all, it was the least I could do.

I rolled over and looked longingly at my guitar, but resisted the urge to pick it up and compose a new song. Right now, she was all I could think about, and I just couldn't write another song about her, the other guys in the band, as much as they loved and missed Sookie, would kill me. Fuck, the whole last album was about her, with the exception of one song.

My eyes strayed back to my guitar, the one she always teased me about, saying it was the only thing in the world that I might possibly love more than her, with the exception of my sister.

I groaned. Maybe one song wouldn't hurt… it didn't _have _to go on the album….

I rolled off the bed and made a beeline for it.

**A/N: So here we go again, this is WAY different from my last story, Redemption, I'm well aware, but I hope you guys liked it. I tried; I really did, to make this long! But it had a mind of its own, and it was begging me to stop there. So, you know, I did. The next chapter will be from Sookie's point of view, and I'm expecting that to be a little longer, but the one after that, I plan to be much longer than this or the next. At least 5000 words, which means it will take a little longer to churn out, but if you like it, please be patient. Thanks for reading! **

**A/N: I had definitely planned for this to come AFTER the last chapter of Redemption, but it's being stubborn, so this story is coming first. I'll put the last chapter of Redemption up sometime this weekend if all goes according to plan.**

**Music Used in Story (Henceforth known as The Playlist)**

**Break Your Little Heart-All Time Low**


	2. Closure

**Disclaimer: Don't own. At all. Bummer. I do not own All Time Low, pity really; all lyrics used in this story are theirs, unless otherwise stated.**

**Inspired by the album Nothing Personal by All Time Low.**

_Yesterday I spotted you  
Hanging out with someone new  
C'mon dude I can't believe who  
Did it hurt? Oh, yes it hurt  
But not as much as I thought it would  
Guess it's time for me to move on_

**SPOV**

"And in other celebrity gossip, rock god Eric Northman has been seen out and about with his ex, Sophie-Anne Leclerq. It's rumored that Northman wrote a song for her off their latest…."

I punched the _off_ button on the radio, and fought the urge to bang my head against the steering wheel of my car. It was a tough battle, but common sense finally won out, which Eric used to joke about, saying that that happened once in a blue moon with me.

I sighed. Eric.

Clearly, he was happy. His album with his band, The Only Party, had stayed at the top of the charts for months, going platinum within the first month. I had seen photos of his on-off again girlfriend, Sophie-Anne as well, she was lovely, well-groomed, soft spoken, and put together. All in all, the exact opposite of me.

Obviously, he had moved on; from his old life, from Bon Temps… from me.

But I was still sitting around like a loser, mooning over him, though it's been six years since we'd broken up.

A honk jolted me out of my reverie, and startled, I looked up to see that the light had changed green, and I hastily punched the gas.

But I was trying to move on, and after much persuasion from my best friend and roommate Amelia, I had decided to begin selling off his old stuff.

Not sentimental things, like the old Rolling Stones shirt of his that I still stuff under my pillow every night, but stuff that I had collected over the years of being The Only Party's number one groupie.

I had song lyrics, hastily written in margins of chem notes, a crappy guitar that Eric had first used when he was learning, that was signed by every member of the band, and my personal favorites, my most cherished possessions from those times: My photographs.

Of course I felt guilty about selling these things, selling my memories of the guys who used to be my best friends, my protectors, but I always tempered that by reminding myself that they left me, they were the ones who abandoned _me._

And then I always feel much better.

Plus, I needed the cash. Being a waitress at the town bar doesn't pay nearly as well as being a hit rock star, I guess, and it paid even less when your older brother was constantly 'borrowing' money and eating all your food.

So I sold the lyrics and the guitar to some private buyers that Amelia hooked me up with, but the photographs were much harder to part with.

It's not like I only had two, no, I had take hundreds of photos during my time spent dating the lead singer, and a lot of them were no good to sell to begin with. Most of them were pretty crappy, as was the quality of film back then. Some of them, I was clearly drunk when I took them, and some didn't develop right.

In the end, I was left with about 100 that were marketable, but only one that would actually _sell._

_The _photo.

The photo that many considered to be, 'one of the most iconic rock n' roll images of all time'.

And the original was mine. I had taken this photo.

It wasn't that complex, in fact, the beauty was in its simplicity.

It was a shot showing Eric on stage with the band, in some crappy bar, dripping with sweat, and exuding what back then I had teasingly called his 'rock god sexiness'. His long blonde hair had been pushed back out of his face, and was sexily mussed, and his eyes burned with intensity. He was leaning into the microphone, crooning out a tune, but his left hand was extended outward, towards the camera, the viewer.

_To me._

At that moment in time, when that shutter had closed, I had thought to myself, _no one deserves to be this happy. I don't deserve to be this lucky, to have this man._

Apparently I was right.

I shook my head once more, trying to clear myself out of the pity party that I was throwing for myself, and once again tried to concentrate on getting back to my old dilapidated farm house in one piece. Lord knows, I couldn't afford the hospital bills, or a new car if I crashed.

I pulled up my driveway, and before I could even put my car in park, Amelia was out the front door, jumping and screaming excitedly.

I laughed at her enthusiasm, grabbing her and jumping along with her though I had no idea why.

"What's going on?" I shrieked to her.

"The auction is finished!" She shrieked back, still laughing with glee.

I stopped jumping. When I had made the deal with Rolling Stone, and had the photo posted up for auction, I wasn't sure if I wanted to do this. Now I had my answer.

"How much did it sell for?"

Amelia stopped jumping, apparently catching on to my somber mood, and replied, still in an upbeat manner, "You won't believe it! 20,000 dollars!"

She was right, I didn't believe it. I felt like I was about to faint. After donating half to charity as promised, I would have 10,000 dollars free and clear. _10,000_. I had never had that much money in my life.

I began to cry, and Amelia began to cry along with me, knowing what this meant for me, and we hugged, and cried, started laughing at ourselves, and then hugged some more.

"There's something else." Amelia added, hesitating, which immediately made me suspicious, because Amelia never hesitated.

"What is it?" I asked in a tired tone. Couldn't the universe just give me one moment of happiness without shitting all over it in the next moment?

She led me into the house, and straight towards her lap top, which was opened to an AOL article. "Well," she began, still hesitating, "Your auctioning of the photo caught a lot of attention, so AOL did one of their top ten lists, of the top ten groupies of all time, you know, Courtney Love, Yoko Ono, Courtney Love, the works."

"What number am I?"

She answered in a perky tone, trying to put it in a positive light, "You're number one, isn't that great?"

"What photo did they use?"

I had my suspicions, and they were confirmed when Amelia wordlessly handed me her lap top, and I saw the picture, and the accompanying article, and the quote from Eric regarding me.

The photo they had used was what many called Eric's second most famous photo, and it was certainly well known, for God knows what reason.

Again, it's simple, taken by Bill Compton, one of Eric's band mates, and shows us sitting on the broken down couch that used to occupy Bill's garage. Well, technically, I was sitting, and Eric was lying down. I was sitting on the couch, and Eric was draped across it, his too big frame allowing his feet to dangle off the side, while his head rested on my lap. He's reaching up towards me for whatever reason, and I'm brushing the hair out of his eyes, gazing down at him with love.

I close my eyes, trying to block the pain lancing through me, and instead turn to the article.

_Our number one groupie of all time is The Only Party's Sookie Stackhouse. In contrast to groupies 1-9, Ms. Stackhouse is not a groupie because of her willingness to travel the road, or sleep with every member of the band, but rather due to her dedication of one man, the lead singer of The Only Party, Eric Northman._

_A quote from Northman identifying Ms. Stackhouse as the woman in the photo, and on his feelings for her in an early interview before The Only Party hit it big in 2002:_

"_That's Sookie Stackhouse; we've been dating since we were 16, so it's been for what? Three years now. Yeah, three years. I can't imagine my life without her, honestly, and I know that sounds sappy, and very un-rock n' roll of me, but I don't give a shit, that's how I feel. She's my drive, my inspiration, my spark, y'know, that thing that when you think 'why bother getting up in the morning', and then you see her, and you think, 'oh, yeah, _that's _why.' She supports me, she supports the band, who loves her like a sister, so she's no Yoko, which is great, but to put it simply, she's my rock. My everything._

I wiped my tears that I didn't even know I had been crying until Amelia handed me the tissue, and I just let her hug me.

He said he loved me, he said I was his everything; where did it go wrong?

He's in L.A, moving on, and I'm still stuck in Bon Temps, still hopelessly head over heels in love with him.

How did it all go so horribly, horribly wrong?

**A/N: And next chapter we will find out! I really like this chapter, what do you guys think? Let me know, okay? See? Told you this would be longer, and next chapter will be even LONGER, so kudos to me, shall we? Thanks for reading! And below, you will find the playlist, and below THAT, will be the timeline, in case y'all are getting confused about the time period, and what not.**

**The Playlist**

**Closure- Aly & AJ**

**Timeline**

**1981- Both were born  
1997- They're sixteen and begin to date  
2003- After dating for six years, they break up  
2009- Present time**


	3. God Love Her Part One

**Disclaimer: Don't own. At all. Bummer. I do not own All Time Low, pity really; all lyrics used in this story are theirs, unless otherwise stated.**

**Inspired by the album Nothing Personal by All Time Low.**

_She always had a thing about  
Falling in love with a bad boy  
Yeah they could see it all coming  
But her daddy never dreamed  
She'd grow up that fast,  
You know what I mean,  
They way a girl gets when she turns  
Seventeen…  
Kind of crazy_

**Early 1997**

**EPOV**

"Remind me again who this chick is?" I asked Sam Merlotte, the lead guitarist in our band, as we were tuning our instruments for band practice. "Why is she coming to our band rehearsal?"

"She's Bill's new lady." Sam said by way of explanation, shrugging his shoulders, and looking dazedly down at his guitar, as if just seeing it for the first time.

I rolled my eyes at him. He was such a stoner, but a damn good guitarist, even stoned out of his mind. "And why should I give a shit?"

"Because she's my girlfriend, and she'll be around a lot." I heard Bill's cool voice from the entrance to the garage.

I smirked, still staring down at my guitar, concentrating on getting the notes just right. "Finally get over Lorena?" I didn't have to look up to know that if looks could kill, I would be dead and gone on the floor right at that moment.

"Who's Lorena?" I heard a sweet southern voice ask, that for some reason made me stiffen, and want to talk to her, simply so she could talk back to me, and I would hear her sweet voice again. It was like a melody, and I immediately wanted to write a song to it.

I finally gave in, and looked up, and if I didn't have such a control over myself, my jaw would have dropped to the floor. She was blonde, with bright, sparkling blue eyes, but these are all things I would notice later, because right then and there, I was distracted by something else.

She was wearing a cheerleading outfit.

_A motherfucking _cheerleading _outfit._

She was a _cheerleader._ My head immediately began swimming with the possibilities of all that flexibility.

I shook it to clear those thoughts. I wouldn't make a pass at her until I knew for sure that she was just another passing fancy for Bill while he and Lorena dicked around with each other.

I refused to have a Yoko Ono break up _my_ band.

I flashed her a bone melting smile and then purred out, "Hello, I'm Eric Northman, may I have the pleasure of your name?"

That didn't mean I couldn't soften her up until I found out the situation, however. And never let it be said that I'm not a smooth talking mother fucker of a sixteen year old.

I knew it worked when she blushed bright red, which, by the way, was adorable. I could also tell, as Bill's grip on her tightened exponentially. I smirked internally.

"My name is Sookie. Sookie Stackhouse. It's a pleasure to meet you." I nearly snickered, a blonde cheerleader, with sweet southern manners to match. How quaint. There was something within me that wanted to cherish that and taint it, all at the same time.

I had to have her, Bill or no Bill.

But I was patient. I would wait.

"Aren't you sweet?" I drawled out, hugging my guitar close to my body.

"Not really." She spat out, which delighted me to no ends.

I let out a peal of laughter, and watched as yet again Bill's grip on her waist tightened until she winced with discomfort. I was sure that he would leave a bruise, which was unacceptable.

"Bill, get your ass over here and tune your guitar while we wait for Lafayette and Alcide." I ordered, and delighted in the way he stiffened, before kissing her on the cheek and grabbing his guitar, and beginning to tune it, sitting on our make shift stage. "Sookie, please, don't just stand in the doorway; come sit here on the couch with me." I invited, waggling my eye brows at her, causing her to giggle, and Bill's head to shoot up suspiciously.

She made her way over to the dilapidated old couch, and gracefully sat down, tucking her legs beneath her daintily, leaning against my shoulder lightly, as if we'd known each other our whole lives. I smiled down at her, because I knew that eventually, when she came into this garage, she would situate herself on my lap. I couldn't wait for that day to come.

She snuggled even closer to me, innocently of course, she was just affectionate, I knew just from looking at her that she was no Lorena; she would be loyal to me. Only to me.

"I have a question." She stated, looking back up at me.

"Yes my dear?" I asked with a charming smile, the smooth talking mother fucker coming out again.

"Bill was telling me a little about your band, but I want to know more. What do you do, what do the other member's do?"

I smoothed my hand over her head, and let my hand rest on her shoulder, bringing her even closer to me. "I am the lead singer of The Only Party, Bill and the passed out stoner over there named Sam are our guitarists, Lafayette who is not here right now is our drummer, and Alcide, who is also not here, is our bassist."

She nodded at that, and then bit her lip, clearly thinking of her next question, and not thinking at all about what she was doing to me. "If you're the lead singer, how come you were tuning a guitar, and where are the other two?"

I laughed lightly, pleased at her astuteness. "Alcide and Lafayette are probably on their way here, they're just late motherfuckers." I was looking down at her, so I saw the way she blushed at my cursing. Well, she would just have to get used to that, because I was a smooth talking mother fucker, that was true, but in no way would I ever be mistaken for a gentleman. "I was tuning my guitar, because I play, but the other two play better than I do."

I shrugged her off of me, and brought my guitar around to my lap, and began strumming out a few chords of Guns N' Roses, Sweet Child O' Mine. She hummed along for a couple of minutes, before surprising me by beginning to sing along with the guitar, her voice was sweet and pure, and I was entranced.

_She's got a smile that it seems to me  
Reminds me of childhood memories  
Where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky  
Now and then when I see her face  
She takes me away to that special place  
And if I stared too long  
I'd probably break down and cry_

She stopped abruptly, and belatedly, I realized that I had stopped strumming, I was so amazed by this girl I'd just met.

"What's up bitches?" Lafayette yelled as he sashayed into the garage, with Alcide trailing not far behind him, and instantly the enchantment was broken.

Sookie's gaze broke off from mine, and she stared, amazed at the ball of flaming energy that was our drummer. Like myself, Lafayette was a smooth talking mother fucker, but luckily for us, he swung the other way. He kept in on the down low in public, but in the garage he was the most flaming man you would ever meet, and I believe that Sookie was just a little bit terrified of him.

But when he first caught sight of her, he sauntered over to her, cooing, "Why hello there muffin, don't you look absolutely… scrumptious?" She had a look on her face that was somewhere between hilarity and fear, but I could tell she was trying her hardest not to laugh at his over the top antics. "My name is Lafayette, the drummer for this fuckawesome band, and what is yours?"

"Sookie Stackhouse." She whispered, still obviously trying to contain her giggles.

He took her hand, and kissed the back of it, saying "It is a delightful pleasure to meet you, and that grumpy fellow behind me is Alcide." Before sauntering over to his drum set, and fiddling with his sticks.

Alcide remained slightly more calm, though he looked a little irked at being called grumpy, merely leaning against a wall, and asking, "New girl Eric?"

"Actually," Sookie interjected, "I'm with Bill."

"Yes," Bill added, "She is with me."

Then, Alcide _did _look surprised. "Really?" He asked. "But, Eric…."

"She is with me." Bill repeated firmly, and I could see the frown on Sookie's face over his possessiveness.

"Fine, fine, she's with you," Alcide said, throwing up his hands in mock surrender. But, as he passed by me to get his bass, I distinctly heard him mutter, "But not for long." That made me smirk, and reach out my fist for him to bump.

Once Alcide had finished tuning his bass, we began to practice, with Sookie watching with avid interest, and for the rest of rehearsal, I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

When we were done and packing up, Bill got a page, presumably from Lorena, because he flushed, and immediately asked if one of us could give Sookie a ride home.

"What's wrong?" Sookie asked worriedly, running her hand up and down his arm reassuringly, trying to soothe him.

"Nothing, nothing's wrong, I just have to… meet someone, that's all." Bill said distractedly, trying to pack up as quickly as possible. The rest of us rolled our eyes in unison, but said nothing. We had had too many fights on this topic already, and none of us wanted another one, especially with Sookie there.

"I'll take her home," I offered. Bill was so far gone in Lorena land that he didn't give a fuck who drove Sookie home, much less me, and just merely waved his hand as he sped out the door.

I grinned in triumph at her, and offered my hand, which she took timidly. "C'mon, let's go." I said, once again waggling my eyebrows at her, which made her throw her head back and laugh, bringing a smile to everyone's face, including my own.

I led her out to the front of the house towards my cherry red corvette where I gallantly opened the door for her, before heading around to my own side. I think that surprised her a little, but I ignored it and got in and put the key in the ignition, and speeding off, reveling in her terrified yelp, and thinking of all the ways that I could turn it into a cry of pleasure.

My hands on the steering wheel literally itched at all the possibilities, and believe me when I say that I had not forgotten that she was a cheerleader, and all the ways that she could be flexible. How could I forget when she was sitting next to me in my car wearing that fuckshort skirt and that skimpy top that did nothing to conceal her rather impressive tits.

I was practically salivating, and she was giving me an odd look, and then finally, in what would serve to my undoing, she licked her lips.

Innocently on her part, I'm sure, but my god it shot down straight to my crotch.

I growled in frustration, and jerked the car off the road and headed towards a cloistered little park that was hidden among the trees. We pulled up to the ring of picnic tables that we sometimes used for parties to keep the cops from knowing, and I slammed my foot on the brake, causing us both to shoot forward.

"Eric? What are we doing here? I thought you were taking me home…." She sounded slightly terrified, and unless I was completely wrong, a little anticipatory….

"I can't take it Sookie. I've only known you for less than a day, but already I want to kiss you, and lick you, and be with you." I ran my hands through my long blonde hair, the exact same shade as hers, in frustration. I wasn't sure how to put what I was feeling into words without sounding like an utter pansy like Bill.

She looked at me in shock, and I saw a war in her eyes, fighting between being pissed as all hell, or being extremely turned on.

I gave her my best smoldering look, and instantly, the war was won.

She threw herself at me, entwining her arms around my neck and bringing me down to her lips, which I was eager to comply with.

I couldn't tell you how long we were sitting in my car just making out, which shocked me. But not as much as _just_ making out. We never went any further, sure my hands crept under her shirt, but that was _it. _

Eventually though, she pulled back with a gasp and whispered with a tragic look on her face, "Bill."

I felt like punching something.

**A/N: And didn't I tell you that this chapter would be longer? How you like them apples? I put a poll on my profile that if you wouldn't mind, I would like you to take. You actually have to read my profile, but it's not that bad. How'd you like Eric's point of view. What'd you think? Thanks for reading!**

**The Playlist**

**God Love Her- Toby Keith**

**Sweet Child O' Mine- Guns N' Roses**


	4. Sweet Child O' Mine Part Two

**Disclaimer: Don't own. At all. Bummer. I do not own All Time Low, pity really; all lyrics used in this story are theirs, unless otherwise stated.**

**Inspired by the album Nothing Personal by All Time Low.**

_She's a rebel child  
And a preacher's daughter  
She was baptized  
In dirty water  
Her momma cried  
The first time they caught her with me  
They knew they couldn't stop her_

**Early 1997**

**SPOV**

"… and then there's Eric. He's the lead singer of the band." Bill was telling me in the car on the way to one of his band's rehearsals. He had picked me up right after cheerleading practice, and we were heading straight there.

"And?" I asked curiously?

"And what?" He asked, looking nervous. He put his blinkers on and began turning down a long dirt road. Down it I could see a large plantation house, rather like my own, but not nearly as run down.

The Compton's had been one of Bon Temps founding families, along with my family, the Stackhouse's, but unlike ours, their wealth had managed to stay intact over the years. They still had the gorgeous plantation house, with a few modern amenities, like the garage they rehearsed in.

I laughed in disbelief. "Bill Compton, don't give me that! You took ten minutes combined to tell me about Alcide and Sam, and Lafayette, your drummer? He got a full 20 minutes all for himself, and you just tell me this guy's name? What's up with that?"

He looked sheepish, and mumbled, "Eric's really the type of guy that can't really be explained with words. You have to meet him to understand."

Now I was even more intrigued, and was so relieved when he pulled up next to a rusty old motorcycle, and a shining red corvette. The garage door was open, but I couldn't really see inside it, but I could hear soft strumming of guitars, nothing that sounded like a song, and disjointed words, two boys talking.

Bill wrapped his arm around me in a way, that even though we had only been dating for a couple of weeks, he knew I hated. It was too possessive. I am not an object, and I refuse to be treated as such.

We entered the garage to hear a boy with blond hair say, "And why should I give a shit?" He was looking down at a guitar, and had clearly not heard our entrance.

"Because she's my girlfriend, and she'll be around a lot," Bill answered in a way that let me know he had heard the beginning of the conversation while I had not, and was still kind of lost.

The blond boy didn't even look up, but still continued to strum at his guitar, saying, "Finally get over Lorena?" He smirked, as if at his own private joke that we weren't privy to.

But I was curious and I had to ask, "Who's Lorena?" Bill's arm tightened around my waist infinitesimally. I looked up at him curiously, but he was still looking across the garage at blond boy.

Blond boy had stiffened as I spoke, and I momentarily wondered if I had done something wrong by speaking, and began looking around the garage for the 'No Girls Allowed' sign. When I didn't see any, I just figured it was his problem.

He finally looked up at me, and he kind of reeled back, as if struck by a brick, and I again wondered if I had done something wrong. But he shook his head, seemingly getting over it.

He flashed me a glorious smile, and I had to correct myself; he was not just a blond boy, no, he was a _beautiful _blond boy. "Hello, I'm Eric Northman; may I have the pleasure of your name?" He was certainly charming as well as beautiful, it would seem.

I blushed, taken aback by his smile and charming manners, and Bill's arm tightened around my waist again. I was thrown off balance by this beautiful boy named Eric, but never let it be said that my Gran didn't teach me manners, as I politely replied, "My name is Sookie. Sookie Stackhouse. It's a pleasure to meet you."

He seemed to find something funny in my response, and hugged his guitar to his body, drawling out as he did so, "Well aren't you sweet."

It wasn't a question. It was a statement. It was a _patronizing _statement. I _hate _being patronized. Beautiful blond boy was suddenly a little less beautiful. I spat out at him, "Not really."

That really seemed to amuse him, because he burst into laughter, which for some reason warmed me from head to toe, and caused Bill to tighten his arm around me yet again, causing me to wince this time from the pain.

Eric looked at my face with some speculation, and then began ordering Bill to tune his guitar, and inviting me to sit with him on the couch, wiggling his eyebrows in a way that made me giggle. If I didn't know any better, he had pulled Bill away to stop him from strangling my waist with his arm.

I sat down next to him, tucking my legs beneath me, and leaning against his shoulder lightly. It felt comfortable, right, and natural, like we had been doing it for years. I snuggled in closer to him, and watched as he expertly handled his guitar. We didn't speak, and the silence was comfortable, but I had an urge to hear his voice again, so I said, "Eric, I have a question."

"Yes, my dear?" He asked, with another charming smile that made my bones a little weak.

My plan to make him speak had succeeded, but now I didn't know what question to ask him, so I asked the first thing that popped into my head, which was, "Bill was telling me a little about your band, but I want to know more. What do you do, what do the other member's do?" It was lie of course, Bill had already told me about the other member's on the way to practice, but it seemed like the right question, because Eric's eyes lit up like a child's on Christmas, and it was so cute the way he talked about his band mates, his friends. It was a teasing, loving sort of way that had me smiling.

He was the lead singer like Bill had told me, but he handled his guitar so well, and that prompted me to ask my next question which was, "If you're the lead singer, how come you were tuning a guitar, and where are the other two?"

He laughed, again at his own private little joke, and just said, "Alcide and Lafayette are probably on their way here, they're just late motherfuckers." I blushed at his cursing, but he looked unconcerned about it. "I was tuning my guitar, because I play, but the other two play better than I do." He said just before lightly shrugging me off him, and flipping his guitar around to begin playing Guns N' Roses, 'Sweet Child O' Mine', one of my all time favorite songs. I hummed along, trying to get up the nerve to sing along, when I just looked at him, intently strumming away, and thought to myself, '_the hell with it_', and just belted it.

_She's got a smile that it seems to me  
Reminds me of childhood memories  
Where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky  
Now and then when I see her face  
She takes me away to that special place  
And if I stared too long  
I'd probably break down and cry_

I thought I was doing okay, but then Eric stopped playing, and I stopped singing, embarrassed. He looked like he was about to say something, when the loudest black man I'd ever seen, sashayed in, yes, _sashayed _in, shouting, "What's up bitches?"

He was about to head to his drums, when he saw me, and sauntered over, simpering out, "Why hello there muffin, don't you look absolutely… scrumptious?" I had to bite my lip to keep from bursting into laughter, not wanting to offend someone I'd just met. "My name is Lafayette, the drummer for this fuckawesome band, and what is yours?"

"Sookie Stackhouse." I whispered, afraid if I said anymore that I would burst into hysterical laughter.

He took my hand and kissed it, yes, _kissed it, _saying "It is a delightful pleasure to meet you, and that grumpy fellow behind me is Alcide."

I looked behind him to see that there was indeed a boy leaning against a wall, looking a little grumpy. Lafayette seemed to have a way of turning everyone's eyes upon him.

Alcide, the grumpy one asked from his position on the wall, "New girl Eric?" I didn't like the way it was phrased, like Eric had a new girl every week.

I tried to deny the pleasure I felt from the statement by correcting him, saying, "Actually, I'm with Bill"

"Yes," Bill corroborated. "She is with me."

He looked surprised at that. "Really? But Eric…."

"She is with me." Bill repeated more firmly, making me frown. I know I said it first, but sheesh! You would have thought he was a caveman the way he was acting around me.

Alcide threw his hands up in mock surrender muttering, "Fine, fine, she's with you." He headed towards his bass, and as he passed by Eric he muttered something else that I couldn't hear, but made Eric smirk, and bump fists with him.

After Alcide tuned, I spent the rest of the afternoon listening to them intently, surprised by just how good they actually were. Their covers were tight, and they had some really good originals with really good beats that I could see being popular with the masses, and with their handsome looks, they would all be really popular with their female fans.

It was around seven by the time they finished packing up, and Bill and I were just about to leave when he got a text that caused him to flush and ask the rest of the band if any of them could drive me home.

I asked him what was wrong, rubbing his arm in a comforting fashion, hoping to release some of his stress, but he assured me that nothing was wrong, that he just needed to meet someone. Upon hearing this, the other guys in the band rolled their eyes in unison, making me feel left out of a joke, even worse, like I was the _butt _of a joke. It was not a pleasant feeling.

But I was pleased when it was Eric that offered me a ride home, making me feel like I was betraying Bill a little. But when Eric led me out to his car, the shiny red corvette, the feeling of betrayal just vanished.

Along the way, both of us began to unconsciously flirt with each other, until the tension in the car was nearly unbearable. He growled in frustration and pulled off into the woods, making me ask, "Eric? What are we doing here? I thought you were taking me home…." I'm sure I sounded a little frightened, but mainly I was anticipating what was to come next, and I was not disappointed.

"I can't take it Sookie. I've only known you for less than a day, but already I want to kiss you, and lick you, and be with you."

He was so blunt with his words that it shocked me, but I had to admit they did something to me. He gave me a smoldering look, and all thoughts of Bill, and betrayal, and cheating flew right out the window, and I just threw myself upon him.

We spent hours making out, and he truly was a perfect gentleman, or as much as one can be while making out with a girl in a car, but his hands never went anywhere but under my shirt, and not very far up to begin with either.

Eventually though, faint thoughts of Bill penetrated the haze that was filling my head, induced by Eric's kisses. I pulled back regretfully, whispering "Bill."

Poor Eric looked like he wanted to punch something, but I don't think he really understood my meaning. I had every intention of breaking up with Bill. It wasn't right I know, but there was just something about Eric that was so magnetic, he just drew me in, and I knew that he felt it too.

I couldn't just go be with Bill after sharing that with Eric, those wonderful kisses. But unfortunately for he both of us, neither of us would be getting any kisses until I was officially broken up with Bill, it just wasn't right, obviously, and I told him so.

I swear, his smile could have lit up the sky, it was so bright, and full of relief, I just about cried.

He also might have talked me into another couple of kisses as well, but he said with a mischievous smile, "I won't tell Bill, if you won't." Causing me to laugh, as he whipped off the back road and onto the highway, we drove into the night.

**A/N: Well, another chapter done, and so sorry it took so long, the next chapter should be up within the next couple of days to make up for it! While I was supposed to be working on this chapter, I was working on some new stories that will be up when this one is over with, yay! Over all, I like this chapter, but I wasn't sure how to end it. Personally, I thought I did a good job on Sookie's voice. Next flashback chapter will be done in a different format however, with both pov's in the same chapter, and consecutive as opposed to overlapping. Let me know what you think of Sookie's voice, and don't forget to read all the wonderful one shots in the All Human Cowboy Up contest that I'm judging. Eric in a Stetson and chaps, and nothing else, 'nuff said. Thanks for reading!**

**The Playlist**

**God Love Her- Toby Keith**

**Sweet Child O' Mine- Guns N' Roses**


	5. Let's Go

**Disclaimer: Don't own. At all. Bummer. I do not own All Time Low, pity really; all lyrics used in this story are theirs, unless otherwise stated.**

**Inspired by the album Nothing Personal by All Time Low**

_Let me reintroduce myself  
As a man with a cause  
I've had a lot of time to think  
And look at who we are_

**EPOV**

I was woken up from my sleep by a heavy pounding on my front door. I rolled over, intent on rolling to my feet, but found I was too close to the edge, and fell off the bed, hitting the ground with a thud amid my muffled cursing.

Upon hearing the loud crash, whoever was pounding on my door ceased momentarily, but then began to pick right up, louder and more intense than before.

I scrambled to my feet, sprinting down the hall, determined to just make the noise _stop._ I threw open my door, and immediately began to scowl at who I saw there. My band. Shit. "What do you want, you sons of bitches?" I snapped, but walked away from the open door, effectively letting them in. I should have known it was them; apart from Pam, they were the only people who knew where I lived.

"Can't we just hang out?" Alcide asked mildly, and I just glared at him, and he gave me the finger.

"I don't want to hang out." I said acidly, heading for my kitchen. The clock over the stove read 6 AM in blaring red letters. Jesus Christ. Didn't any of them appreciate sleep? I bypassed the fridge altogether, knowing it was empty without having to look. I made a beeline for the cabinets, and began rummaging around looking for vodka. Or gin. Or bourbon.

"What're you looking for?" Sam drawled out. He'd stopping smoking pot a couple of years at Sookie's urging, but he still spoke slowly. When we asked him why, he'd shrugged and said that Sookie had nagged him. Nagged my ass. All she had done was looked at him with her big blue eyes and say, 'Sam, I really hate that you smoke. It makes me worry about you.' That was it. He flushed his baggie, and smashed his bong.

"Liquor." I grunted; my head shoved into the cabinet, searching frantically.

"Are you sure that's a good idea Eric?" I heard Bill murmur behind me, and the others agree with him. Of course. When I was unavailable (or drunk) Bill was the de facto leader. "I mean, you look like crap."

That made me pull my head out, if only momentarily, and I drawled out, "Really? 'Cause I feel like shit." With that, I promptly returned to my search, shoving my head back into the cabinetry.

"We heard about what Sookie did." Alcide said, in his ever monotonous voice.

I chose that moment to emerge victoriously with my last bottle of liquor, gin, in my hands. But before I could even bask in its heavenly aroma, Lafayette was on me like white on rice; snatched the bottle from my hand, tore off the top, and poured the whole fucking thing _down the drain._

I wanted to shout. I wanted to cry. I wanted to punch that mother fucker in the mouth.

Bill immediately went to his defense. "It's too early to drink. We want to talk to you about Sookie."

I gave them all the evil eye, and strode into the living room and flopped down on the couch with a huff. "I don't want to talk about Sookie." I crossed my arms over my chest. I knew I was being childish, but I was too tired, and too sober to give a damn.

"Well we want to talk about Sookie, and since there are four of us, and only one of you, you don't have a choice." Alcide said, crossing his arms as well, but since he was standing up, it looked menacing as opposed to childish.

"Well I _don't._" I stressed, feeling more and more childish with my statement. "If you wanted to talk to me about Sookie, you should have waited until I was drunk. This means that you probably shouldn't have poured my bottle of gin down the sink!" I gave Lafayette a glare, which didn't faze him at all; he just smirked and gave me a flirty wink, which disturbed me more than him pouring my alcohol out.

"We heard about Sookie auctioning of her stuff, and that's gotta suck, especially about the photo, but getting drunk doesn't help." Sam said, with Alcide and Lafayette nodding together like damn bobble heads.

"Nor does spending… how much was it again?" Bill asked, scratching his chin absently.

"20000" Alcide barked out.

"Nor does spending 20000 dollars on a photograph help. That's not healthy. You and she broke up, remember? You need to move on." Bill said sagely.

"Oh, give him a break on the auction thing." Lafayette broke in, waving his arm around spastically. "He was just trying to help her with her cash problem, without her finding out. I did the same thing."

"You did?" I asked, nonplussed. I glanced around at the rest of the band, and realized that they were all studiously avoiding my gaze. "What did you guys buy?"

"I bought that dinky guitar that you learned to play on, that we all signed and gave to Sookie to learn on. It cost me 5000 dollars!" Lafayette exclaimed, and I could tell he was one part flattered, one part horrified. No matter how much money the band made, and by extension, him, he would always fell like the boy from the trailer park, and only spend money when he had to.

"I bought a giant bundle of photos for 2000." Sam said, and he too sounded horrified. And maybe a touch… freaked out? God only knows what those fan girls would do with those photos. I shuddered.

"I bought a pack of chemistry, history, math, and science notes with lyrics on them. Geez Eric, did you pay attention at all during school? By the way, those lyrics sucked." Alcide said.

"Shut up you mother fucker, my lyrics don't suck, _you _suck." I was kind of proud of myself. I went from being a child to graduating to acting like a teenager. Alcide only rolled his eyes at me. "What about you?" I asked, turning to Bill.

"Well, I _was_ going to buy an original photo of Eric Northman and the love of his life, Sookie Stackhouse, but _someone _out bid me. Now you're only getting money for your birthday."

I smirked smugly. "You snooze you lose mother fucker. And don't call her the love of my life. She stopped being the love of my life when we broke up."

"Bullshit." Alcide said, and Sam, Lafayette, and Bill all nodded along. "You still love her, your just too chicken shit to do anything about it."

I shot up from the couch. "WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?" I bellowed. "She _left_ me! She broke up with _me._" So let's stop acting like she's the victim here, alright?" They all looked at me with pity in their eyes. I fucking hated that. I sat back down on the couch heavily. "Besides, how can I ask her to take me back after what happened?" I cradled my head in my hands, and knew from their silence that they were just as lost as I was.

**A/N: New Year's Resolution? Stop making promises to update 'tomorrow'. Sorry guys, but I have some new stuff on my plate! Here it is:**

**I have a new story out, called The Veil Between Happiness that has been favorably received (so far). Please read it and let me know what you think. But please be aware that it is more like Redemption than like Nothing Personal.**

**I will have an entry for the Naughty or Nice Contest out sometime this week, entitled Southern Fried Christmas, so please look out for that, and read it and let me know what you think!**

**I have pimped myself out for the Support Stacie Author Auction, so if you want me to write your very own fic, bid on me, starting this Friday, the 15 of January! It can be anything, something you want to see happen in Nothing Personal, or in The Veil Between Happiness, that can be yours! Or if you want a story all to yourself, you can do that too! I'm not expecting much, anything that can help Stacie pay her bills, would be great! Also check out the other talented authors, like Zigster who are whoring themselves out! Link goes up tonight on my profile, and **_**that **_**is a promise!**

**Thanks for reading!**

**The Playlist**

**Let's Go- Cartel**


	6. Chasing Pavements

**Disclaimer: Don't own. At all. Bummer. I do not own All Time Low, pity really; all lyrics used in this story are theirs, unless otherwise stated.**

**Inspired by the album Nothing Personal by All Time Low**

_I've made up my mind, don't need to think it over  
If I'm wrong I am right, don't need to look no further  
This ain't lust, I know this is love_

**SPOV**

_We here at Band Follower magazine know just what you ladies are craving: More Nothing Personal! So we managed to score an interview with all five of these sexy guys, including a smokin' hot picture of them, just for you! You're Welcome!_

**Band Follower (BF): So thanks for coming to talk with us today! You guys don't give out many interviews, so we're all flattered that you accepted!**

**Eric Northman: It's no problem at all; all of us love your magazine.**

**BF: So let's get down to it: How do you guys feel about the slew of Grammy's you've been nominated for?**

**Alcide Herveaux: Honestly, it's surreal. We're happy of course, but still… this was not at all expected.**

**Sam Merlotte: (Laughs) That's for sure! We always thought that we would end up getting nine to five's and just playing on the weekends.**

**Lafayette Reynolds: You bitches though that! I always knew I would be famous!**

**(All laugh)**

**BF: And what would you say influences you the most in your music? Any particular band?**

**Bill Compton: I would actually say that it's more influenced by the people in our lives, be it girls, or our family. (The rest murmur in agreement, and nod.)**

**Alcide: But for bands, I guess The Beatles, The Clash, Rolling Stones….**

**Sam: British invasion, can't beat it really.**

**BF: Speaking of girls, are any of you seeing anyone?**

**LR: Nope, all of us are single, but I bet Eric wishes he could change that. (Laughs)**

**BF: Are you speaking of Sophie-Ann? It's rumored that you wrote her a song for your latest album, you recently broke up, are you hoping to get back together.**

**Eric: Unfortunately, no, Sophie-Ann is a wonderful woman, but she and I are destined to remain friends. I did write a song for her, but I'm not telling which one! (Laughs) And Lafayette is correct, I am in fact single.**

**Lafayette: (Snorts) Of course I'm right!**

**BF: So, moving past relationships, who would you say has the biggest fan base?**

**All together: Eric (Laughs)**

**Bill: Unfortunately, that is true, the smug bastard. **

**BF: Well that about wraps it up, thanks for your time guys, you have been wonderful!**

**Eric: No, thank you, it's been fun.**

I tossed the magazine to the side with a snort. I really wish Amelia would stop bringing that trash in the house. She knew how I felt about it, and generally she threw it away before I saw it, but sometimes she forgot.

I looked around me in disgust. The one day off I've had in three weeks, and I spend it on my couch, reading about _him._ This was bringing pathetic to a new all time low. I sickened myself. I vowed to get out of the house, and do something, _anything._

I headed upstairs, and changed out of my pajamas, at last, seeing as it was one in the afternoon, and then grabbed my car keys, ready to head out the door. But when I pulled my door open, I started in shock, because standing on my porch, was Bill Compton, hand raised, poised to knock.

"What are you doing here?" I rudely blurted out, and I knew that if Gran was still around, she would have smacked me upside the head for being so rude, but I couldn't help myself. I hadn't seen or heard from any of the guys in years, and then the day after the Grammy's my ex-boyfriend (If you could call him that) showed up on my porch!

"Sookie," He said, sounded relieved that I was home. "I'm glad your home, I need to talk to you. Can I come in? I lost the paparazzi at the airport, and I don't want them to find me here, especially considering…." And he trailed off uncomfortably.

But I knew what he was about to say, '_considering it's a well known fact that you used to date Eric, this would cause a big stir.'_

Though it seemed unlikely, given all of Bill's cloak and dagger moves, I had to ask. "Does Eric know you're here?" Again, it was pathetic, but a small part of me would always hope that he would send for me, or come back and stay with me.

Bill grimaced, and my heart plummeted. "No, he doesn't know, and I would prefer it stay that way. May I come in?" He repeated, just as polite as ever.

I pasted on my 'work smile' and replied, "Of course! Come on in! Sorry about the mess, but I've been working non-stop, so I haven't had time to clean."

As I looked around my disgusting living room with Bill, a flush came to my face, and I felt truly ashamed to see Gran's beautiful house turn into this pigsty.

"It's alright, Sookie, if you work as much as you say, you must be tired." He said politely, and cleared a pile of clean clothes off the couch to make room for him to sit.

"Speaking of tired, I saw you at the Grammy's last night! God, that must have been _fun._" I said enviously, wishing I could have been there. I had had such high hopes for their band, I knew they would make it big, and I always imagined going to the Grammy's on Eric's arm. I shook myself out of that fantasy once again.

He smiled a little sardonically. "It was, for the most part. I wish you could've been there, you would have appreciated it much more than any of us."

I snorted, "Oh, I doubt that, you and I both know that that would be Eric's element, Lafayette's as well, both at the center of attention."

We both chuckled together, and I found my eyelids drooping, as I tried to conceal a yawn.

"Are you alright, Sookie?" Bill asked with a concerned look upon his face that I tried to wave off in vain.

"I'm fine, just a little tired, you said you needed to talk, so let's talk, I'll be fine," I said dismissively.

His lips narrowed into a fine little line that I recognized form the old days as his 'stubborn face'. "You said you've been working a lot. When was the last time you had a day off?" He asked, before getting off the couch, and picking me up into his arms, and moving up the stairs.

"Bill Compton! Put me down this instant!" I howled, and pounded on his chest futilely. It would seem he was determined to get me to bed.

"Answer the question Sookie." Was all he would say.

I harrumphed, and crossed my arms before muttering, "Three weeks ago."

He walked into my bedroom and dropped me soundly on my bed. "Three weeks?! Sookie, you need to take care of yourself, if Eric…." For the second time that night, Bill trailed off uncomfortably, and found the floor fascinating.

"What?" I demanded, rising to my knees. "If Eric… what? What would he do? You are seriously deluding yourself if you think he still cares for me! It's been six years! He had a girlfriend who he wrote romantic songs for! He's over me, and I'm over him!" My voice was getting more and more shrill, but I couldn't seem to stop it.

He chuckled. "Now who's deluding who?" He murmured, before turning and walking to my door, where he stopped with his back to me. "Get some sleep Sookie. I'll be here when you wake up, don't worry." And then he shut the door.

I contemplated screaming, and then decided that he was right. I was tired, and I needed sleep. I could bitch at him later, if he kept his promise, and stayed. But over the years I've learned not to trust any of the boys from that band.

**A/N: So, new chapter, hoped it didn't disappoint! Here's the rundown, I will still continue to post Nothing Personal, but I want to focus on Kitchycoo's and Lilabitbtf's stories as much as possible. Kitchycoo's story is Shattered, and I have yet to post Lilabitbtf's story, but when I plan to, I will announce it here. Thanks for reading!**

**The Playlist**

**Chasing Pavements- Adele**


	7. I Love Rock N' Roll

_I love rock n' roll  
So put another dime  
In the jukebox, baby_

**Early 1997**

Eric and Sookie were lying on the hood of his corvette in her front yard, staring up at the stars, or she figured he was, she was too interested in hearing him talk. For the past hour he had been talking to her about the band, how it got started, what each of their roles were in it, and what their plans for.

Normally a very calm and collected guy, Sookie was delighted to see him open up when talking about the band, and his friends; his whole face lit up, and his whole body conveyed his excitement. He told her in great detail how they all met, how they formed the band, even why they chose the name The Only Party, which she had been very curious to find out the meaning behind it.

Eric had laughed when she asked, and explained his laughter by saying, "There is no meaning. We all wrote words on pieces of paper, tossed them in a hat, and pulled them out until we found something we liked." She laughed along with him when she heard the story.

Eventually, he grew quiet, and they sat together in comfortable silence, staring up at the night sky, each of them lost in their thoughts. When Eric turned to her and asked her what she was thinking about, she told him she was thinking about Bill, which made him frown.

"Don't worry about that fucker. He'll get over it eventually," Eric said, referring to Bill's reaction upon hearing that they were together.

After Sookie and Eric had their little make-out session in his corvette, two days ago, she immediately made the decision to break up with Bill. She felt horrible about it, and truth be told, a little slutty, but she couldn't deny that she had a connection with Eric that she did not feel with Bill. With Bill, it was more like the comfortableness you feel around a sibling or good friend.

So at the next band meeting, she pulled Bill aside and quietly broke up with him, and gave him the reasons why. He said nothing when he heard Eric was the reason, but instead gave her a long look that made her feel like shit, and left the garage, and headed towards the main house and locked the door behind him.

"But I feel bad," Sookie said plaintively, locking hands with Eric's. "Maybe I should apologize."

Eric rose to a sitting position and looked down at her with bewilderment. "Why the hell should you apologize?"

She too rose up to a sitting position upon hearing his statement, and stared at him with disbelief. "What do mean 'why should I apologize'? I _cheated _on him, isn't that reason enough?"

When he heard her reasoning, he had to let out a dry laugh that had her looking at him in confusion, and him scrambling to explain, "If your reasoning is that you cheated, therefore you should apologize, than I think Bill owes you one hell of an apology himself."

Sookie felt her jaw drop open upon hearing Eric's words. "Bill… cheated on me?" She forced the words out in disbelief.

"Several times, though technically, not really because you guys never went on a real date. But yeah, theoretically, he cheated on you with his ex, Lorena. In fact, the day you came to band practice and he got that page and asked me to drive you home? The page was from her, and he left to go meet her, which if you ask me, is a mistake, because who would choose anyone over you?" At that, he flashed her a charming grin, that earlier in the evening would have made her melt, but now she was still reeling from the shock of the words she had just heard.

"That's where he was going," Sookie whispered in disbelief.

"Yeah, which is why I don't think you should apologize, he's not even all that mad. If anything, he's more pissed at himself, for letting you slip away, the dumbass," he tossed her another smile, hoping she would catch all the compliments he was handing her, in a backhanded way. What he wasn't expecting was for her to lift her head, and stare at him with blazing eyes.

"You knew all this time that he cheated on me?" She asked in a deadly calm voice. "You knew, and you didn't even tell me, you made me feel like shit this whole time, like a SLUT THIS WHOLE TIME!" Her voice got louder and louder, until by the end of the sentence she was shrieking at the top of her lungs, and Eric slid off the corvette, backing away slowly from her, trying to think of something to say, and only ended up stuttering.

She threw him a contemptuous look, and clambered off the hood, ignoring his wince of pain at the rough treatment his car was receiving. "Get off my lawn, and out of my sight, Eric Northman," she said in an ice cold voice, before turning and flouncing into her house, leaving Eric standing on the lawn wondering when the fuck the night had turned to shit.

* * *

Sookie paced nervously in Bill's garage. None of the member's had arrived, and she was waiting for Bill and Eric. Bill she just wanted to call a truce with, but talking to Eric had her more nervous, because she had to apologize to him, and it wasn't something her pride allowed her to do easily, but she felt it had to be done.

It had been three days since her blow up at Eric, and that had been enough time to calm down, and feel ashamed of herself. She had treated Eric horribly for something that wasn't his fault, and she was praying that she hadn't ruined things with him.

She was interrupted from her pacing and musing by a high pitched sing song voice. "Oh, my scrumptious muffin, you have returned to me!"

She whirled around to see Lafayette in all of his flaming glory, his hands on his hips in a 'diva' pose, clutching drumsticks. "What are you doing here sweetums?" He crooned, strutting over to give her a hug that she awkwardly returned.

"I'm here to talk to Bill, and to apologize to Eric," she said, resuming her pacing, which Lafayette watched with great amusement.

He nodded sagely, "Yes, I heard all about that clusterfuck, no worries peaches, I'm sure you will make it right," and he turned and walked to sit behind his drum set.

She gave him a disbelieving look, and paced some more, at a faster speed, which made Lafayette dizzy, until he noticed someone standing at the entrance to the garage, and with a grin began a rousing drum roll that caused her to stop and give him an odd look. At his nod over her shoulder, she turned and to her surprise, saw Eric standing there appraising her with a cool look.

"Lafayette," was all he said, and with some grumbling about not getting to see the show, Lafayette left the building.

She stared nervously into his cool blue eyes, and fought the urge to start pacing again. He saved her when he entered the garage, grabbed her hand, and pulled her over to the couch and sat down on it, dragging her into his lap.

She blushed, and squirmed nervously, which had him groaning. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said, bringing his hands to her hips. She instantly froze, causing him to chuckle.

"Eric, I'm sorry," she began, twisting her hands, and turning sideways on his lap so she could look into his eyes.

Before she could say anything else in her apology, he stopped her by pressing his index finger to her lips. "Okay," he said.

"Just like that? Okay?" She asked shooting him a confused look.

"Just like that. Okay," he smile at her, and removed his finger. "All I have to ask though, is it always going to be like this?"

"Like what," she asked curiously.

"Are you always going to run away from me when we get into a fight? Because when we hit it big, and we will hit it big, we'll be going on tours, and I'll be taking you with me, so I suggest you stay and talk to me instead of running, at least when we're in strange towns," he murmured, smiling down at her indulgently.

She blushed at his words, and muttered sheepish, "Okay."

He smiled broadly at that, and she was lost in the beauty of his face. "Great. Now I can do this," he lifted her so she was straddling his waist, and began to kiss her tenderly, which slowly turned into ferociously as they got more into it.

After about ten minutes, they heard a dark voice from behind them say, "Not in my own fucking garage."

Sookie broke the kiss, and turned and blushed at seeing Bill standing there glaring at them, and became blatantly aware that she was straddling Eric's lap. She immediately rolled off of him, though he kept a tight arm around her so she couldn't scoot farther away.

Eric glared at his friend for interrupting his make out session and replied in just as dark a tone, "Yes in your own fucking garage. You fucked up and you know it. You cheated on her, and she technically cheated on her, and you're both sorry. Get over yourself Bill, and just try and pretend to act like a man, okay?"

Bill was deathly quiet, and Sookie was wondering if he was going to blow up, but then he just shrugged his shoulder, and said, "Fair enough," and headed over to pick up his guitar and fiddle with it.

Eric turned to her with a cocky smirk as if to say 'see?' He pulled her back onto his lap, and nuzzled her neck through her hair.

She sighed in contentment, and watched as the garage filled up with the other band members, and felt completely happy.

**A/N: Short I know, but like with Shattered, gave a good back story. Hope you liked it, thanks as always, for reading!**

**The Playlist**

I Love Rock N' Roll- Joan Jett and the Blackhearts


	8. Stupid Boy

_Well, she was precious like a flower  
She grew wild, wild but innocent  
A perfect prayer in a desperate hour  
She was everything beautiful and different_

Fucking Compton.

I threw my cell across the room at the wall where it shattered. I glared at it. Now if only I could do that to Compton. But I couldn't because that fucker wasn't picking up his fucking phone.

And I was pissed.

I had a good idea where he was, and that's what pissed me off the most. He shouldn't be talking to Sookie; _I _should be talking to Sookie. But I couldn't, because the guys were right; I _was _too chicken shit.

What if she laughed at me? What if she rejected me? I wasn't strong enough for that, I couldn't deal with that again, it would kill me, no doubt about it.

I knew why he was visiting her of course. Last night was the Grammy's, not that I remembered any of it of course. I was drunk out of my mind last night, I was just lucky we didn't win any of the categories we were up for. Then I would have been screwed, because I was in no shape to accept anything last night.

If Sookie had been with me last night, she would have been so embarrassed, she probably would have left me there, called a taxi and then gone back to her hotel.

But then again, if Sookie _had _been with me last night, I wouldn't have been drunk. I would've been the happiest mother fucker on the planet. But she wasn't with me; she was in Louisiana, running out of money. So instead I was the drunkest mother fucker in the history of man.

Sookie loved me, I had never doubted that. I knew from the moment that she became my girlfriend after I kissed her in my car while she was technically with Bill, that she loved me. She wasn't in it for the band, for money, for fame, she was in it for me. Just for me. Just for Eric, she would always remind me when I would get shaken when one of the other's girlfriend's (or in Lafayette's case, boyfriend's) turned out to be money grubbing whores.

But there was one thing that she loved about me being famous: the Grammy's. Sookie had grown up watching that award show with her Gran and saw all of her idols perform and make jokes and speeches. She'd always wanted to go, and I always swore to her that I would take her, I never doubted that The Only Party would make it that far, and neither did she.

She didn't want to go to the show so she could wear a designer dress, or to meet celebrities, or get her name in the paper, she just wanted to go to hear the music, to see history in the making.

'_And to support you,'_ she would always say, and then kiss my cheek in a way that I thought was so innocently sexy, it made me want to throw her down and mount her, no matter where we were.

I left the living room, and made my way into the kitchen, hungry as fuck. Bill clearly wasn't going to call me back, not that he could, now that my cell was in pieces on the floor, so I figured I might as well eat. But as I opened the fridge, I cursed. It was completely empty.

I went to my cabinets. I cursed louder. Those were empty also. This was not boding well.

I wish I had another phone to throw. Now I had to go out and get groceries. I hate going out in public to do mundane things like shopping. Photographer's followed me, people mobbed me, and no one, and I mean _no one _had any respect for my personal fucking space!

Plus, whenever I saw a blonde woman, I ran up to her to see if she was Sookie, which was always awkward because it never was.

I went into my room, about to put on my shoes and jacket and go out, when I saw my bed and realized I didn't _want _to go anywhere. So I wouldn't. I would curl up in my bed, starving, sober, alone, and absolutely miserable.

As I should be.

As I lay in my bed, staring up at the ceiling, I realized I couldn't remember the last time Sookie and I were ever happy together. It had to be well over a year before we broke up, heading into our last year as a couple-though we didn't know it at the time- it was all downhill.

I could remember our last fight of course. That I remembered vividly, which made me even more miserable.

We had had a kind of crappy day, the kind where you wake up arguing and go to sleep arguing, and we were making good progress on spending the whole day arguing as well. I had pulled into an abandoned church parking lot, and we began one of our infamous angry make out sessions, which in the last year had become more and more angry, and more and more frequent.

I had tried to have sex with her, which now I could admit wasn't the smoothest thing I'd ever done, and she went ballistic. She started ranting and raving how it was forbidden, someone would see, and they would report us. I didn't really give a damn, and kept on going, thinking that she would eventually get in the mood.

She didn't and she hauled off and slapped me, then stormed out of the car angrily.

I met her back at her house where we had one last no holds barred fight, and then that was it. She ended it; I screamed at her until she shoved me out of her house crying hysterically, and then I left, because I could never stand seeing her cry.

I drove back to the house I was sharing with the rest of the band, and I just broke down. I felt like I couldn't breathe, and I hate to admit it, but I fucking _cried._ I slowly progressed back to being a somewhat normal functioning adult, but I still needed to drink every day. It was inevitable. Sookie had been my drink, my drug, my everything, without her I needed some kind of fix, and for once, music wasn't solving anything.

I rolled over on to my side, and just tried to breathe. I'd managed to hold everything at bay for so long. As long as I didn't see her, or hear about her, or even really think about her, I would be fine. I would make it.

But then I logged onto eBay and saw that she needed money, saw that she was broke, and that she was auctioning off little pieces of our history, and everything just came rushing back. All the pain I was feeling that had been numbed came back in full force, and the pain I felt when Sookie broke up with me was just there, it never went away, I couldn't take it anymore. I didn't want to take it anymore.

I rolled out of bed and headed for my desk. I began writing a letter for her, saying goodbye.

_Dearest Sookie,_

_First off, before anything else, I need you to know, once and for all, that I love you. Not loved. Not past tense. Never past tense._

_You are everything to me. When we were together, you were my sun, you were my oxygen, you lit up my world, and you made me live. _

_When we broke up, it crushed me, I drank every day just to get by, to forget about you and the pain for one second was a blessing. I didn't pick up my guitar for two months. I didn't want to. I didn't want to do anything but just get by._

_Eventually the pain… it didn't subside… but it numbed is a good word for it. I became numb to the world, and I don't know what it was like for you, but for me, it was like I was alive, but I wasn't _living. _But I was getting by._

_Then, though I never actually saw you, you somehow came back into my life, and it was like someone taking away painkillers. Everything is rushing back and Sookie, I can't breathe, I can't take it anymore, I just can't._

_So this is a goodbye, and an apology._

_I'm sorry for everything I put you through, I'm sorry I pushed you until you thought the only option was breaking up. I'm sorry I didn't give you everything I promised, I'm sorry I left and most of all, I'm sorry for this._

_Goodbye, I love you,_

_Eric_

I signed it, and put it into an envelope, and put her name on it in big letters, setting it directly in the middle of the coffee table.

I went into the bathroom and grabbed a glass of water and a bottle of pills. It sucked that I didn't have any alcohol, but I'm sure if I took enough pills with water, it would do the trick.

I poured a bunch of pills into my palm, and was about to toss them into my mouth when I heard my lock being turned, and then my door opened. I looked down at my hand with the little pills in it, and then back up at the door guiltily, and felt my jaw drop open.

Bill was standing in the doorway giving me an odd look, but right next to him stood Sookie, whose eyes were darting, horrified, from me with the pills in my hand, to the bottle, to the glass of water, and then finally landing on the letter in the middle of the table with her name on it.

I opened my mouth to say something, _anything,_ but then she strode over to me, slapped me sharply in the face, and then dropped to her knees at my feet and burst into tears.

**A/N: This is what my drama professor would call the **_**climax**_**. We're not quite done yet though. We know some of the break up story, but not all of it. That will come in time. Now about Eric, you just need to understand that he is in a lot of pain, and he just wants it to end. Sorry about that, not what I had planned, but the story just progressed naturally to that point. Plus it's very rock star of Eric, don't you think?**

**Now, that being said, suicide is not a joke. If you or anyone you know is thinking about committing suicide, get help. It's a cliché, but suicide really isn't the answer, it's only the beginning of a whole slew of problems.**

**Now, I am once again whoring myself out in the name of a good cause: Support Stacie! Link is on profile. I drank the Twitteraid, and you can now find me under ohfortuneslost. Please follow me, it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Thanks for reading! Next chapter up next Wednesday!**

**The Playlist**

**Stupid Boy- Keith Urban**


	9. Free Falling

And I'm a bad boy  
'Cause I don't even miss her  
I'm a bad boy  
For breaking her heart

**SPOV**

I woke up, and was surprised to see the sun setting when I looked out the window. "Bill," I called curiously, sure he had left, I must have been sleeping for a good four hours!

But, as if he was standing right outside my room, he appeared in my door, smiling warmly at me, still in my bed. "Did you have a good nap?" I could only nod dumbly, stupefied by the fact that he was still there. Earlier I thought he was only a hallucination, fueled by lack of sleep. But now, fully awake, I had to accept the fact that Bill Compton was in my house. "That's good, because we still need to have our talk," he smirked, reminding me of another Only Party band member. He walked over and sat next to me in my bed.

"Okay, so talk," I was still a little uncomfortable with Bill being that close to me, in my bed, as if Eric was still around to walk in on us. Bill smirked at me as if he knew this already, and wrapped his arm around me in a friendly hug.

"It's about Eric," and he paused, looking at my face, I guess to measure my reaction to his words. "We're worried about him."

I skittered back out of his arms, and off the bed. "I'm sorry; you said you're _worried _about Eric? Mr. Rock star? He lives in a penthouse, with his platinum records decorating his wall, a different gorgeous model on his arm every day, and you're worried about him? Clearly, he's fine!" I was mad and screaming and I couldn't bring myself to give a damn. He had broken my heart, left me in the dust, and he got _everything, _and I had _nothing._

Bill didn't say anything, just waited until I had calmed down before he spoke. "Sookie. Eric is slowly but surely killing himself. It's killing him to be without you."

It tore me up to hear it, but it still didn't sound quite right, and the pessimist within me couldn't help but question Bill's words. "It's been six years Compton, if he's been dying without me, it's been a slow death," I saw him flinch, and knew that my words were callous and unexpected, but I couldn't help it. I was not about to let my heart get broken again.

"Sookie," he began, and his voice was low, "When you broke up, he was devastated, I've never seen him like that, it actually scared us. We thought he was dying. Eventually he pulled himself together, but he began to drink, and I don't think he has put the bottle down since. Shit Sook, he was drunk last night!"

I blinked in surprise, whether at the fact that Bill had just cursed or about hearing that Eric was drinking at the Grammy's, I wasn't sure, but I did know that this was serious now. Bill wasn't kidding around.

He nodded his head solemnly, "Yeah," he said, "It was bad. We're just lucky we didn't win any awards, because he could barely stand, much less walk."

I felt tears begin to prick at my eyes, and before I knew it, Bill stood in front of me brushing them away. "Hey now, no tears okay? Eric hated to see you cry, and so do I." That of course just made me cry harder, which made him chuckle.

"But Bill," I said sniffling. "What do you want me to about him? We haven't talked in years!"

He nodded at that. "No you haven't, but he still loves you, that I can promise you. Do you want to know a secret?" I nodded my head furiously. "That picture that you put on eBay that someone paid 20,000 dollars for? That was Eric. Pam told him that you were selling stuff because you needed money, so he bid on it for you." Hearing that just made me cry even harder to where I was just out right sobbing. "In fact, I think that's what set him off on this latest bender, hearing that you were in need of money. Why is that by the way?" He asked curiously, and waited patiently while I tried to stem my tears.

"It's just… this is an old house, it always needs repairs, and I'm just a waitress, fixing it up takes a lot of paycheck away, and Jason is always here of course, eating my food," I muttered, looking around for something to blot my eyes with, and to my surprise, Bill held out a clean and starched handkerchief, which I accepted gratefully.

"Well, it worried him sick, he won't stop writing songs about you," he said, smiling fondly. "It's actually kind of sickening, in a sweet way. But I came here not to freak you out by telling you about Eric, but to tell you that I need you to come back with me."

I dropped his handkerchief, I was so surprised. "What?"

He laughed at my expression. "I want you to come to California with us. He's having a hard time right now, and I'm almost positive that seeing you would snap him out of it. I've already talked to Sam Merlotte, and he said that it was fine if you left for a couple of days, in fact, he said you needed a vacation anyways."

I was just gaping at him, no words came to mind, but panicked thoughts until I finally spluttered out, "But what if I don't want to go?" I could tell by the look on Bill's face that he didn't believe me. "I'm serious here Bill, what if seeing me doesn't snap him out of his funk? What if he just gets pissed at me? I don't think I could take having my heart broken again. Call it selfish, but this is me looking out for myself, for once."

He just leveled me with a serious look. "Sookie, _I'm _serious. I get that you're looking out for number one, but I don't think you understand. What I'm trying to tell you is that I think that Eric is heading to doing something drastic, unless you and I stop him."

Upon hearing those words, my heart plummeted, and I could feel tears spring to my eyes once more. I waved my hand tiredly at Bill, just giving up. "Fine, just let me pack first."

He flashed me a triumphant grin, before kissing me on the cheek and leaving, whistling merrily.

* * *

That was how I found myself rushing from a limo to a private jet with the paparazzi chasing me and snapping photos, with Bill running ahead of me, laughing like mad.

We finally made it aboard, and were preparing for takeoff when I asked Bill, panting and trying to catch my breath, "Is it always like this?"

He laughed and shook his head. "Actually no, it's usually worse when Eric is around. He's quite popular." I knew that feeling.

The rest of the plane ride was quiet as I was too anxious about Eric to say anything, and Bill promptly fell asleep anyway. I just spent my time looking out the window at the skyline.

We finally landed in California, and repeated our mad dash to the car, avoiding the paparazzi, which seemed to have doubled, I guess because we were back on their turf.

Again, the ride to Eric's apartment was silent, but thankfully much shorter, and it wasn't long before Bill was turning his key in the lock, and letting me into Eric's apartment. The first thing I saw was Eric standing holding pills in his hand, then I glanced over to him holding a giant glass of water, and then my eyes flickered to his coffee table where there was an envelope with my name on it. I was roughly aware of Bill standing frozen next to me, but ice seemed to run through my veins at the sight of my ex.

'…_heading to doing something drastic….' _

Bill's words kept running through my head on a loop, and before I knew it, I strode over to Eric, and slapped him square across the face, and then felt myself crumble, literally, as I fell to his feet and began sobbing and hyperventilating.

I felt him drop the pills, could hear them scattering across the floor around me, and heard him place his glass down before dropping to his knees in front of me, and joining me in my tears. I could hear him muttering, over and over, "I'm so sorry. I'm _so _sorry. I'm so _sorry._" He never stopped, and it made me cry harder.

Finally, Bill came over, and hoisted Eric to his feet and half carried; half walked him to what I presumed was his bedroom. I just stayed on the floor, still sobbing, and curled in on myself. Bill came back, and easily lifted me into his arms and carried me to Eric's bedroom, and deposited me on the bed next to Eric, and said, "Alright, now talk you two," before leaving and shutting the door behind him. I felt a sense of déjà vu.

For a while, we disobeyed Bill's instructions, and said nothing, merely laid there and stared at each other, drinking one another in, I felt like I would never see enough of Eric, even if we just stayed in that bed staring at one another for the rest of our lives.

I think, I hoped Eric felt the same way, because he made no move to interrupt the silence, and gazed at me with reverence, as if he couldn't believe I was actually there in front of him.

Eventually however, Eric moved, leaning forward and tracing my face with his thumb, still with the motions as if he couldn't believe I was there. "You're beautiful," he whispered, and he smiled, a bittersweet broken farce of a smile. He chuckled half heartedly. "I really screwed up didn't I?" He asked sheepishly, and I had a flashback to a high school Eric showing up late to pick me up for a date, wearing that same sheepish smile that always made me melt.

"I forgive you," I whispered, returning his gesture, and tracing his face with my thumb, smoothing over his worry lines, and ghosting over his lips, ignoring the way his tongue reached out to gently lick it.

"You shouldn't," he whispered back.

"Okay, then I won't," I replied, and we both giggled together like little children, until the laughter faded, and we were looking at each other with seriousness in our eyes. "Why were you going to do it Eric? Isn't all this," and I waved my hand around his obviously expensive room, "Worth living for?"

He chuckled. "No, it's not." And he withdrew his hand from my face, and left the bed to dig through his massive closet before emerging carrying a blown up version of my picture from eBay, encased in a simple black frame. He held it up for me to look at, and gestured at it. "This, now _this _is worth living for." He laid the frame carefully up against the wall before crawling back into bed with me, and wrapping his giant hands around my tiny ones. "You, you are worth living before, and two hours earlier my Sookie, I didn't have you. I have you with me now, so I will live."

I gave him a sad smile, and kissed him gently on the forehead. "Eric, this doesn't solve everything, we still need to talk."

He kissed my back, also on my forehead, and whispered, his warm breath brushing across my brow, "I know, but not now. For now, just lie with me."

And I did, we just laid there in bed, staring at one another, and in those moments, I could almost pretend that nothing had ever happened. Not today and not six years ago. I could just pretend that everything was perfect.

**A/N: None of us, including me, wanted to wait until today. No worries, we still need to get more Personal before the ending comes. Thanks for reading, and I hoped you enjoyed.**

**I'm on twitter; you can find me under ohfortuneslost, same as here. I'm also up for Support Stacie, so bid on me starting Friday, for a good cause! Link on profile!**

**The Playlist**

**Free Falling- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, cover done by John Mayer, which I actually like. It's an acoustic cover, which suits this song nicely.**


	10. Think

_You better think  
(Think)  
Think about what  
You're trying to do to me_

**Mid 1998**

"Have you seen Eric?" Sookie asked Lafayette as she entered the garage. She and Eric had been dating for the past year and a half, and so far everything had been fine. They fought of course, they were teenagers and human after all, but, like moons revolving around a planet, they seemed to gravitate towards each other.

"Can't say I have baby doll," Lafayette replied looking up from cleaning his drum kit. "Why, did y'all get into a fight again?"

Sookie sighed, biting her lip and nodding her head before flopping into the old familiar couch. While in the past their fights have been only once every couple of months; now it seemed like they would fight, make up, and then go right back to fighting.

"Yeah, we did," she said, bringing her knees to her chest and trying to blink back the tears that filled her eyes. Lafayette immediately abandoned his drums and hopped over the back of the couch and wrapped his arms around her comfortingly.

"Sweetie, tell Lafayette what happened," he crooned, rubbing her back in soothing circles.

"I don't know!" She wailed out, bursting into tears and sobbing into her hands violently. Lafayette withdrew his hand from her back and looked terrified, clearly regretting trying to comfort the poor girl. "I honestly don't know what happened," she choked out. "We were enjoying a perfectly nice dinner and date, and then he throws down his napkin, accuses the busboy of looking at my breasts, and me of flirting with him, and then he just storms out, and I haven't seen him since!" She dropped her face into her hands once more and sobbed even louder.

Alcide and Sam walked in, saw the sobbing Sookie, and promptly turned on their heels to walk back out the way they came.

"Oh, no no no boys," Lafayette called after them, "Get your fine asses back in here right now."

They came back in, dragging their feet and mumbling under their breath, but still gathered around the couch to be near to Sookie.

Alcide draped himself across the back of the couch, occupying himself by playing with Sookie's hair. "So what's the crisis?" He drawled out, while Sam situated himself at Sookie's feet, lightly strumming at his guitar, a tune that vaguely sounded like 'Smoke on the Water'.

Lafayette quickly filled them in on what happened, and their expressions of disdain changed into those of sympathy, and Alcide leaned forward to drop a kiss on the top of her head.

"I'm so sorry that happened chere. Do you want me to kick his ass?" He offered, and Sam punctuated it with a sharp strum on his guitar.

Sookie sniffled and shook her head pathetically.

"There's one thing that's bothering me though sweet thing," Lafayette began, leaning over to wrap his arm around her shoulder. "If you guys were out on a date, he must've picked you up; but if he left you half way through, how did you get home?"

Sookie lifted her head and simply said, "I walked home," and immediately, the three boys bodies stiffened.

Sam tightened his hold around his guitar's neck, so tight it was almost likely to break. "What?" He growled out in outrage. "You had to walk home? Sookie, you went to a restaurant in fucking Shreveport! Don't tell me you walked to Bon Temps from there?"

"Who walked to Bon Temps from where?" Bill asked, walking into the garage and only hearing the tail end of Sam's comment.

"Sookie walked home from Shreveport," Alcide replied helpfully, and Bill's face immediately darkened with rage.

"What? I thought Eric was with her," he stated, walking over to the couch, and sitting on the arm next to her.

Lafayette snorted disdainfully. "So did we."

Eric chose that moment to stumble into the garage, wearing rumpled clothes, and sporting a scruffy beard, and when he saw his band mates framing his girlfriend on the couch, a sneer formed on his face. "Well isn't this cozy," he spat out, before heading towards the fridge in the back, grabbing a beer and popping it open.

Sookie stood up abruptly the moment she sighted her boyfriend, causing Alcide to fall off the back of the couch with a resounding 'thump', but Sookie didn't even cast a glance in his direction. She only had eyes for Eric.

"Eric, where on Earth have you been?" She walked over to him, and gently traced his face with her hands, as if checking for injuries. "I've been so worried about you; I've been out looking for you all night!"

Eric jerked his face from her hands, ignoring the hurt look on her face, and the pang of guilt it caused on the inside. "Would you just give it a fucking rest Sookie?" He snapped, causing her to blanch back in shock and hurt. He had never spoken to her like that. "I'm sorry I left you at the restaurant, I am, but just let it go, alright?"

At his words, the rest of his band had scrambled to their feet, and were watching the couples' interaction with clenched fists.

Sookie stared deep into his eyes, more tears welling up into her own. "Eric," she whispered, looking down at the floor so she wouldn't have to see him. "I think we need a break."

She heard the muttered exclamations of her friends behind her, but ignored them and chanced a peek at Eric, who looked like he'd just been sucker punched.

"You're breaking up with me?" He whispered all his anger forgotten when shock overwhelmed him.

She shook her head furiously. "No! Just a break, we need some time apart, for the time being at least."

"Time apart? TIME APART?" He roared, breaking the silence the whispers had left, causing everyone to jump. "Fuck Sookie, that sounds like a break to me!"

"Well it's not!" She snapped back at him, her temper and pride getting the better of him. "This, right here?" She gestured between the two of them. "This is _why _we need a break. Eric, don't you get it? We spend more time fighting than we do happy, and I don't want to live like that anymore. So we need a break. A temporary break," she said firmly, her hands on her hips.

"Well, I don't want a break," he said stubbornly, crossing his arms across his chest, the beer bottle still dangling from his hand.

She glared at him. "Well you know what Eric? I'm past caring what you want," she said snippily, then turning and grabbing her purse from the couch and storming out of the garage.

"I'll give her a ride," Alcide muttered, and then chased her out.

Eric stared at the door, panting slightly, and clenching the bottle in his hand tightly, his eyes ablaze with rage. "FUCK!" He screamed, and threw the bottle at the wall where it shattered, spewing its contents, and causing it to run down the wall where it pooled at the floor.

He slid down the refrigerator, and gripped his hair with his hands. "Fuck," he muttered dejectedly.

Lafayette walked over and slid down the fridge to sit next to his friend, because pissed as he was at that moment, Eric looked truly broken hearted, and the flamboyant man's heart went out to him.

"I can't believe she broke up with me," Eric moaned, his voice muffled by his hands.

Bill walked over to him, with Sam trailing behind, still strumming on his guitar. "Did you not hear a word she said?" Bill asked savagely. He was pissed beyond all belief that Eric had fucked things up with Sookie so badly. He did not walk away from them just for her to get her heart stomped all over.

"Huh?" Eric asked, raising his head in a daze, but furiously rubbing at his eyes with his sleeve, trying desperately to hide the sight of his tears, even to his best friends.

"She didn't break up with you, you asshole," Sam bit out, for once stopping the strumming of his guitar. "She just wants a break, there's a difference, which you clearly fail to see. She just wants so time apart so you guys can think things over, give you both a chance to breathe."

Lafayette chuckled softly, causing the others to look at him as if he were insane. "See?" He choked out between laughs, "Even the stoner gets it." There was silence for a moment, before all of them burst out laughing, falling all over each other, trying to get the tension from the air, so they could talk freely.

After they had gotten all the laughter out of their system, they sat around in silence, just lost in their own thoughts until Sam pulled out a joint, lit it then asked, "Anyone want a puff?" Looking upon their pot smoking friend indulgently, as one would a child, they all declined, and he shrugged. "Suit yourselves." And he took a great big puff, exhaling in satisfaction.

"So what happened?" Bill asked Eric, still looking at his old friend with hard eyes. He was not one to quickly forgive. Never had been, and especially not when it came to Sookie.

Eric's head dropped back into his hands. "I don't fucking know," he muttered. "I wish I did, but I have no fucking clue when everything fell apart. For the first couple of months everything was great, we couldn't get enough of each other, always hanging around, she was coming to band practices, we were chilling at school, going on dates at night… and then it changed. Suddenly little things began to bother me, and irritate me, and I would point them out and she would get pissed. I would say something to her, and she disagreed, and we would fight about that. Suddenly hanging out with her constantly wasn't all that fun anymore, but what the fuck were we supposed to do? We're dating for God's sake!" He looked up at them with true panic in his eyes. "What if the break is only a lead up to the inevitable? The beginning of the end?"

The rest of them rolled their eyes at his melodramatics, while Lafayette snickered at his expression. "You're such a fuck up sometimes baby boy," he cooed, and Eric glared at him, not sure which he took offense to, being called a fuck up, or being called baby boy. "Shit, with Sookie, everything just came so naturally to you, I forget how little relationship experience you really have." His expression and tone changed to that of one speaking to a child. "Honey, what you and Sookie were going through is what is called the 'honeymoon period', the relationship is new and exciting, you always want to spend time together, learning new things about each other."

Eric nodded slowly in acceptance, and Lafayette continued. "Generally after that, the couple begins to experience what you described. They find more out about their significant other, and they find there are things about the other that bother them. It happens, it's natural. And when it does happen, generally couples kind of move apart from each other, spend time with their friend's a little more, they give each other space. You and Sookie, from the sound of it, didn't do that. Big mistake."

It was silent for a couple more minutes, while Eric took all of the information he had been given in, and processed it. Then out of nowhere, Sam said, "Yeah," and nodded his head emphatically, his eyes glassy and the joint still burning in his hand. His friends rolled their eyes and ignored him.

Finally, Eric heaved a great sigh and asked, "So how do I fix this?"

Bill and Lafayette exchanged sly glances, and Bill said with a mischievous grin. "You take a break."

**A/N: The beginning of the end. Not of the story, just of their relationship. More from the past will come up; this is just one of the leading factors in their breakup. There were some minor references to two others, but I'll leave those for you to guess at. Honestly, the whole time I was writing this, I was thinking about Ross and Rachel from Friends. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!**

**I'm practicing my lemons, so look for a lemony one shot coming up within the next couple of days, hopefully tomorrow, entitled 'The Love Hotel'**

**I'm on twitter; you can find me there under this pen name if you wish to follow me for updates.**

**The Playlist**

**Think- Aretha Franklin**


	11. Wonderwall

_And maybe  
You're gonna be the one  
That saves me  
And after all  
You're my wonderwall_

**EPOV**

She was next to me. I could feel her, touch her, and smell her luscious hair. All of my nerve endings were on fire; I was in sensory overload, just _knowing _that she was right there, in my room, next to me in my bed_._ It was exhilarating.

It was quiet and peaceful in my room. We weren't speaking, just lying in bed together staring at each other. I was staring at her, drinking her in, I knew I would never get enough of her, but she would probably be leaving soon, so I needed one last vision of her to remember her by.

She leaned forward and brushed my hair out of my eyes, and grinned. "You looked like you've just seen the Messiah in a waffle. What's going on in your head?"

I sighed as she spoke. I could listen to her for the rest of his life, and never tire of what she was saying, whatever it may be. "I was just thinking how lucky I am that you're back in my life." I said, grinning just as brightly at her, though she immediately dropped her hand from my hair, and her grin faded quickly. Panic struck my heart, though I tried not to let it show on my face.

"Eric… Bill sent me to talk to you, because he and all of the guys are worried about you. And I'm not going to lie, after what just happened out there, _I'm _worried about you."

As soon as she spoke, the panic receded, and hope flooded into my heart once again. She was worried about me. That had to count for something, right?

As if she could sense what I was thinking, a tender look passed over her face, and she said softly, "Oh, Eric. I love you, I do. There's no sense in denying it really, but-."

She couldn't say any more, as I immediately swooped in to cut her off, kissing her fiercely on the mouth, while inside, it was like a Sunday morning chorus singing _Hallelujah_. She _loved _me! _She _loved _me!_

After everything, after all this time….

She pushed away from me, and scrambled up off the bed. "Eric, stop!" She gasped out, wiping her mouth, and panting heavily from lack of air.

"But you said…." I began lamely, and she cut me off with a dark glare.

"You didn't let me finish, before you assaulted me! What I was _saying _was that yes, I love you, but I just don't see us getting back together." Tears filled her eyes, which broke my heart. I could never stand to see her cry. "You don't understand Eric. When you left me, all those years ago, you _broke _me. I thought I was never going to recover. But I did, over time, with the help of my friends and family, I did. I put myself back to pieces, and became a functioning human being again. But if we did this," She gestured between the two of us wildly. "If we got involved again, I don't think I could handle it!" She let out a long shuddering sigh. "Like I said, I put myself back together, I glued myself back up, and if you leave me again, if you break my heart again, I think the damage would be irreparable. And I just can't take that chance." By the end of her diatribe, tears were streaming down her face, and her arms were wrapped around herself, as if she was still literally trying to hold herself together.

I just sat there on my bed and stared at her with wide eyes. She took me in, and almost immediately it seemed, the fire died from her eyes, and her arms loosened from their tight grip around her waist. She laughed. "I'm sorry to get so melodramatic on you, really. And we were doing so well." I snorted at that. Neither of us had been doing well for a very long time.

She looked surprised at my snort of laughter, but then let out a tiny adorable snort of her own, which set me off laughing, and soon we were both rolling all over my bed, laughing like idiots.

Soon though, the laughter died down to where we were lying side by side staring up at the ceiling, the calmness from earlier permeating the room once more. I rolled off the bed however, and reached my hand towards her and said, "C'mon, I want to show you something."

She obligingly took my hand, and let me lead her off the bed, out of my room, and through my apartment to my balcony. It was spacious, to be sure, but that's all it was, a balcony.

I led her out onto it, and let her take in the sights of L.A silently. After a moment or two of just absorbing it all, she turned back and looked at me questioningly. I chuckled; knowing now was the time to speak. "Earlier, you asked me if what I was surrounded by wasn't worth living for, I can only assume you meant my luxurious penthouse apartment, and by extension, all the lovely amenities and luxuries afforded by my lifestyle?" At her nod, I continued. "Yes, it is fancy, and truly, I want for nothing, but this is it." And I swept my hand outwards, gesturing to the L.A skyline.

"This is all the fresh air I get, if you could call the air in L.A fresh," and here, I wrinkled my nose in distaste, causing her to giggle, always a delightful sound. I turned away from her to lean on the railing and just stare off into the distant. "It's not like Louisiana, not like Bon Temps, where there are hills that aren't paved over, and grass that will die, and people know each of their neighbors, and have open feuds with each other. The life I live is very fake, very shallow, impersonal." I felt her come up to the railing beside me, and lean on it as well, and I knew, without even looking, that she had tears in her eyes, which just made me feel like shit. I was always making her cry.

"Is that why you tried to… you know…?" She whispered, looking down at the railing, up at the sky, across the distant, anywhere but at me, which made me cringe.

I smiled a bitter smile, which she didn't see as she was still avoiding my gaze. "The term is suicide Sookie. You can say it, it's a clinical term." She finally looked up at me, if only to give me a dirty look that made me smirk. I sighed heavily, the smirk falling away from my face easily, as if it were never there. "I don't know. In all honesty, it was a myriad of reasons. The superficiality of my life, the pressure, the sensation of living in a fish tank, always being watched…. It just got to be too much after awhile. And of course, I never got over breaking up with you."

She looked at me again to give me a disbelieving look, that fell away when she saw how deadly serious I was. "Bill was right," She mumbled, which piqued my interest.

"What was dear William right about?" I asked, spinning around, so my back was against the railing, and crossing my arms over my chest in what some might call a 'defensive' pose.

"Well, he said, and in a lot more words, I might add, that you were essentially self destructing. He said you had started like that after we broke up, started drinking a lot. Why didn't you talk to me?" She whispered, mimicking my pose, but wringing her hands gently in her lap instead.

"Why?" I asked angrily, my gaze hard and flinty boring into her timid gaze. "So you could get back together with me, out of what? Pity?" I snorted bitterly. "Besides, you made it quite clear that you never wanted to see me again."

"Only after you made it quite clear what you truly thought of me." She retorted angrily, her cheeks pinkening up with heat, and her tiny little hands clenched into fists.

I flinched at the reminder of my harsh words on that night.

_Bitch. Prude. Cocktease. _

She pushed off the railing, and began to walk back inside saying, "I think I should just leave," Without even turning around.

Without thinking, I reached out and grabbed her by the hand, and just pulled her towards me. I didn't embrace her, or hug her; I just pulled her closer to me. We stayed there, staring at each other, until she seemed to come to a decision.

"We need to start over," She said decisively, pulling her hand out of mine, and walking inside. I couldn't move, too confused by what just happened, and after a moment, I heard the door open and then close. I just stood there, dumbfounded, had I been tricked? Had Sookie really left me?

But no, after another long moment, I heard a loud resounding knock on the door, that didn't quite register with me, as I still stayed frozen. Again, the knock came, louder, and I rushed to the door and threw it open so hard I was surprised the door knob didn't get imbedded in the wall.

She seemed startled by my enthusiasm, but recovered quickly. She stuck out her hand, with a big grin on her face. "Hi, I'm Sookie Stackhouse, the girl who is your ex-girlfriend, yet still madly in love with you, and also your concerned friend who has heard about your contemplation of suicide. I thought I would come over to see how you were doing, and offer your help to move forward, and just forget about the past." She looked deep in my eyes as she spoke, and in them, I could read a promise.

It wouldn't be easy, and it wouldn't be quick, which sucked, because I love when things are easy and quick. Otherwise… things get too… messy. But I would do it. For Sookie.

I grabbed her awaiting hand, and tugged her in and brought her into my embrace.

**A/N: Sorry it took so long, and that it's kind of short, but this chapter was actually really hard for me to write. I was truly struggling through it. But hey! They're in the same room, talking, and actually moving forward! Baby steps people! Next chapter will discuss their relationship moving forward, as well as more reasoning on Eric's part about his attempted suicide. We still have more chapters to go, not everything is just going to magically fall into place. They have three years of pent up emotions from an awful break up, and then three more years of undiscussed emotions from a rocky relationship. We have a ways to go. I'm expecting it to be at least eight more chapters, but that may change at any moment. Thanks for reading!**

**The Playlist  
****Wonderwall- Oasis**


	12. Hard to Live

_So just lay your head down low  
Don't let anybody know  
That it's hard to live, it's hard to live  
In the city._

**SPOV**

I allowed myself to be pulled into Eric's hug and just relaxed in his embrace. He smelled just like he did when we were teenagers, warm, comforting, and as I closed my eyes, I could almost believe we were back in happier times.

But I forced myself to break his hold by reminding myself that I had important things to do. I had to take care of Eric. From this moment forward, his wellbeing would be my main focus and my one goal while I was in California.

With that in mind, I turned on my heel and into his kitchen, and began rummaging through his cabinets. Bill had told me about how they'd poured his last bottle of alcohol down the sink, but clearly he'd restocked.

Eric watched in silence as I opened up the bottles and poured every last drop down the drain. It wasn't until I was finished and staring at my work with a satisfied expression that he spoke.

"You know that was 3000 dollars of alcohol you just poured down the drain?"

"I'll pay you back," I replied coolly, though inwardly I was astounded that he paid so much for booze, and wondering where the hell I was going to get 3000 dollars.

"No you won't," He retorted immediately, and cut me off when I opened my mouth to protest- though I will admit it would've been halfhearted at best. "I'm serious Sookie, it's better that it's down that drain, then down my throat. Thank you." As he thanked me, his eyes seared into my own, and I swear my heart skipped a beat.

I gulped, and looked away quickly trying to hide my blush. "It's nothing," I mumbled, and he chuckled at me, which made me glare at him in mock anger. "That's enough out of you! Now grab your coat and your keys, we're going out."

I marched back into the living room to grab my own jacket, but then realized he wasn't following me, and hadn't moved even a step. "What?"

He stared at me with a strange expression on his face. "Have you forgotten so soon?" At the puzzled expression on my face, he elaborated. "The paparazzi."

I smirked at him, and grabbed his hand, tugging him along with me to the front door, barely giving him enough time to grab his jacket and keys before we left, me still dragging him along. "Don't worry; it's all part of the master plan."

I could practically hear the smirk in his voice as he asked, "Should I be worried?"

I whirled around and gave him a fake pout, and battered my lashes prettily. "Don't you trust me?"

He gave me another searing stare that had me melting. "With my life."

I suddenly felt tears prick at my eyes, and had to swallow past the lump that had formed in my throat. It was harder than I expected to be around Eric and pretend nothing had ever happened. Maybe this was a mistake. I shrugged off the feeling and instead focused once more on my mission of getting Eric back to who he was. "Well, if you trust me that much, don't you trust me to know what I'm doing?"

He laughed long and hard, and I got the feeling that he didn't laugh like that much anymore. "Sookie, half the time I'm not sure _you _know what you're doing." He spoke as if there was never six years of separation between us, and once more I got the feeling that this was all a mistake, but then he grabbed my hand, and we were running, down the stairs, out the building and into his car, and I forgot all about it as the flashes from the paparazzo's cameras began blinding me.

We began to laugh hysterically as soon as our butts hit the leather seats of his corvette. "Sweet ride," I said appreciatively, running my hand along the dash admiring its sheen.

"Thank you. So where to milady?" He asked, inserting the key into the ignition and gunning the engine playfully and flashing me his patented panty-dropping grin. Outside the paparazzi were going crazy, plastered up against the car, their flashes lighting up the interior like we were inside of a rave.

Eric rolled his eyes at the commotion and then backed up slowly, giving the vultures outside plenty of time to scramble away and into their own vehicles. I shot him a questioning gaze, and he replied, never taking his eyes off the road, "They're going to tail us." I must have looked alarmed, because he quickly elaborated, "Nothing too serious, just follow us to see where we're going, and take more photos." He shot me a quick glance before focusing on the road once more. "By the way, where _are _we going?"

"Downtown," I replied easily, looking out the window and enjoying all the sights of L.A. Eric nodded at my command, and turned onto the freeway. I may not know the city, but I knew cities in general, and I knew what I was looking for, and I knew I would find it downtown.

As luck would have it, awful L.A traffic caused us to lose the paparazzi and get to our destination easily ten minutes ahead of them, giving me just enough time to hammer home my point to Eric. He parallel parked with ease, with me watching jealously, as that is a skill I've never perfected; and then inserted money into the parking meter.

The moment he stepped out of the car, people were starting and whispering, and camera phones were whipped out like dollar bills in a strip joint. He donned a beat up baseball cap that I faintly remember me giving to him one year on his birthday, and a pair of sunglasses. I rolled my eyes at his attempt to be incognito. "Of course, now they'll _never _know it's you."

He chuckled and replied easily, "You never know, people are especially gullible. But past that, what are we doing here? Is there a point to this field trip, or did you just want to see the sights, because I can guarantee I know a lot more places more interesting than this."

"I'm sure you do, but there is a purpose, but we can just go back to your apartment, and then I can go to the airport and catch the next flight to Louisiana. I can, if you're already tired of my company…."

"No!" He shouted, startling me. He seemed to notice that, as he immediately lowered his voice. "No, don't go, I'm sorry, it's just been a while since I've been out and about."

I grabbed his hand and shook my head sadly. "That my friend, is extremely pathetic." I began walking along with him, basking in the gorgeous California weather, and wondering how anyone could stay inside on a day like this.

As we got deeper and deeper into downtown L.A, my reason for coming here began popping up more and more on every street corner.

Musicians.

They were all there, guitarists, harmonica players, fiddlers, I even saw one guy playing an accordion with a lot of gusto, while across the street, a man with a bag pipe eyed him warily. I guess he didn't like a guy with an equally annoying-sounding instrument encroaching on his territory.

I pulled Eric to a stop in front of a guy who was doing a phenomenal cover of Tom Petty's 'Into the Great Wide Open', one of my favorite songs, strumming on an old beat up guitar. "Give me some money," I said to Eric, not taking my eyes off the musician in front of me.

I heard him sigh in exasperation, and him mutter, "Bleeding heart," which I ignored, but he yanked out his wallet and handed me a twenty which I immediately put in the man's guitar case to which he nodded me a thanks.

"You know he's probably just going to go out and buy heroin with that, right?" Eric asked me the moment we were out of hearing distance. I yanked him to a stop and glared at him. "What?" He asked defensively.

"Would you just stop?" I snapped at him.

"Stop what?"

"Stop with the negativity! Stop the poor you _crap_! I get that you've been feeling depressed and run down, and just plain lost, but would you stop with the pity party?" Eric looked down at me in shock, and even with a little bit of hurt in his eyes, but I was too angry to care. "What you've been going through is horrible, it's true, but would you look around?" I gestured at the sprawling city that surrounded us, with the giant 'Hollywood' sign barely visible in the distance through the smog. "You are in the city of dreams, of _angels._ Look around you; do you see all these people who want what you have? They are all looking for their big break, hoping to be discovered, but half of them would just be happy to have a roof over their heads! But you, Mr. Sexiest Rock Star, Mr. Grammy Winner, is too caught up with how _superficial_ his life is? Grow up Eric Northman, and get over yourself!"

In the middle of my speech, he had dropped my hand and stepped away from me, looking at me with such pain in his eyes that my heart literally ached at the sight, but I still felt it was something he needed to hear.

"Eric, I'm not going to apologize—."

He cut me off. "I don't want you to. I deserved that." I looked at him disbelievingly, and he offered me a small smile. Not his usual stunner, but I could tell it was genuine, and not forced. He held out his hand to me, and I took it.

I leaned into his body and looked up at him. "We can go now if you want; we still have other things to do and times a-wasting'."

He smirked down at me, and in silence we walked back to his car which was once again barely visible through all of the paparazzi, and as we neared it I heard shouts of "There they are, get the shot!"

Eric pulled me in close to his body and bowed his head to the lights, and I did the same as they kept taking photos of us and screaming questions specifically at me. We finally made it to the car, and instead of having me walk around to the passenger side door, Eric just gently shoved me into the driver's side and I gingerly climbed over the gear shift.

The moment he was in, he started the car and revved the engine loudly and amazingly all the paparazzi back off. As soon as they were clear Eric hit the gas and I don't think he stepped off of it for at least ten miles. I guess when you're a celebrity you don't have to worry about speeding tickets.

"So where to next, oh wise one?" He asked me with a wry smile on his face.

"Let's just drive around for a little. I'll tell you when to stop." I rolled down the window and laid my head down on the door, basking in the sun and the wind whipping my hair around. It was fantastic and hard to imagine how anyone could be unhappy with this kind of weather all year round. "Why don't you have a convertible? You live in California for God's sake!" I admonished him without ever lifting my head or even opening my eyes.

I heard him chuckle as he responded by saying, "Come back to me in twenty years, I'll have hit my mid life crisis by then."

So we just cruised around, not talking much, just soaking in each other's presence. It wasn't until I was finally back in Eric's company that I realized just how much I'd missed it. Before he'd left Bon Temps for good, even through our bad times, Eric and I were practically inseparable. And then one day I woke up, and he was gone, and I was like and addict going through withdrawal symptoms.

But now, I'd been away from the drug for so long that I could remember the jitters, the crashes, and those were enough to have me swearing off the drug also known as Eric Northman.

"So are we ever going to find what you're looking for? I'm beginning to think you've just been baiting me this whole time, and when we get back to my apartment there's going to be a surprise party for me."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't flatter yourself buddy."

"_Buddy?"_ Was that my imagination, or did he truly sound offended by the term?

"There, pull over there." I gestured to my chosen destination and internally giggled at his confused expression and furrowed eyebrows. I guess he was expecting something a little more high brow than the tiny little park I'd chosen.

"A park."

"Yup."

"I drove around for over two hours so we could come to a _park?_"

I sighed and flopped back into my seat exasperated. "Fine. We can leave."

He was up and out of the car, and opening my door before I could blink. He held his hand out to me invitingly. "No, don't do me any favors Northman."

"It's not a favor Stackhouse, I want to stay." I raised my eyebrows in disbelief, but as he stood there looking earnest and waggling his fingers at me, I reluctantly took his hand.

I noticed that even as we walked away from the car, he still didn't drop my hand. We walked through the small area, through the bright green grass, under tall oak trees, and past little kids playing random games, still lightly holding hands.

There was nothing romantic about it. It was just one friend innocently taking comfort in that of another friend.

Eventually we stopped and sat under a gorgeous oak tree on a quaint little wooden bench. "This is nice," I said appreciatively, and Eric just hummed in agreement.

"So Stackhouse, care to divulge the hidden meaning in our location?" He asked, stretching out on the bench easily, his long legs splayed in front of him, and his arms stretched out on the back of the bench, giving me a nice little pillow to rest my head on.

"It's your slice of Louisiana." I replied, sitting up on my knees and looking him dead in the eye.

"It's what?"

"A little slice of Louisiana." I looked around the tiny park and snorted. "Very little." At his puzzled expression I explained. "You said that you missed the green grass of Louisiana, and the hills, and so whenever you feel like the city life is just overwhelming you, I want you to come here. Just relax in the peacefulness of it all." However right as I said that, a hoard of the paparazzi came swarming in out of nowhere completely shattering our happy little moment. We looked at each other and just burst out laughing.

Wiping tears from his eyes, he stood and helped me to my feet. "Ready to run?" He asked.

"Wait. There's something else I want to say. Turn around, look at all these people around us, taking photos, trying to find out what's going on with you. They wouldn't be doing this if you weren't popular, and you're popular because people out there care about you. They care about what you're doing in life, what music you're making, if the girl you're dating is good enough for you, they _care_. Don't you think they'd be saddened upon hearing of the death of the Great Eric Northman?"

He brought his hand up to my face and gently brushed hair out of my eyes. "And what about you, the Wonderful Sookie Stackhouse? Would you be saddened to hear of my death?"

In that moment, there could've been no photographers, no screaming fans, no eager reporters, because in that moment, there weren't. Because when I looked in Eric's eyes it was just he and I.

"I would be devastated," I whispered, and then took his hand and let him lead me through the chaos.

**A/N: many apologies and many thanks to be had! First off, my apologies for taking so long to update, I can honestly say I did not realize how much time had passed, between work, school, and moving back into my parent's house. This leads into my thank yous. I want to say thanks to all of you for still reviewing, and for PMing so much. But for more than that, for leaving me **_**polite **_**reviews and PMs. The respect and consideration you guys gave me were heartwarming and made it easier for me to write this chapter, just thinking about all of you.**

**Shameless self pimping ahead: Follow me on twitter! My name there is my name here. Look out for a contest I'm hosting with Aredheadthing soon! It should be up in a couple of days, link will be on my profile. I have recently posted a smutty one shot entitled Hey, Batter Batter!**

**Heist will be wrapping up in the epilogue coming out soon, and so I have began writing a new AH story. If you would like to get little hints and sneak previews about what it could be about, the link will be on my profile. Or, just go right now to www(dot)talesfromohfortuneslost(dot)tumblr(dot)com. Just replace the (dot) with actual dots.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**The Playlist  
****Hard to Live (In the City) -Albert Hammond Jr.**


	13. Let's Just Fall In Love Again

_Let's just fall in love again  
So let's just fall in love again_

**Mid 1998**

"Jesus Christ Eric, what died in here?" Bill asked, covering his nose with his sleeve as he walked into Eric's bedroom.

Eric was lying face down on his mattress wearing nothing but boxers, his hair was a mess, and he didn't even lift his head to reply to Bill. His words were muffled by the mattress, and Bill rolled his eyes.

"Stop face-planting the mattress, get your ass out of bed and get a god damned shower!" He demanded, striding over to Eric and pushing him out of bed.

Eric fell off with a thud and a loud curse directed at Bill and his mother, but nonetheless got up. He moved slowly around the room as if every movement caused great physical pain to him.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Bill asked tracking his friend's movements around the room with concern in his gaze.

"I haven't heard from Sookie in three days, what if she's dead?"

"She's not dead."

Eric whirled around so fast that his hair hit him in the face. "How do you know?"

"Because I actually go to school dipshit. She's worried about you."

"Then why hasn't she called me?" Eric asked, running his hand through his dirty and matted hair, cursing when his fingers got caught in the mess.

"Because you're taking a break shithead."

"Why are you calling me names fucktard? You're supposed to be on my side."

"I _am _on your side. Calling you names gets you pissed, getting you pissed gets you moving, getting you moving gets you to school, getting you to school gets you to Sookie, and closer to ending this break, and putting us all out of our miseries."

Eric considered his friend's words and then shrugged in defeat. He pulled a towel out of his drawer and headed into the bathroom, where after a few moments, steam began emanating from.

Bill smiled with satisfaction and left.

* * *

The next day, Eric strode into school late amongst much mutters and whispers, which he ignored in his quest to find Sookie. He walked with purpose straight to her locker where he found her pulling her morning books from, wearing the same cheerleading uniform that she had been wearing the day they had first met. He immediately started zoning out, remembering all their fantasies they had played out while she had been in that uniform. His hands began itching to her strip her of it.

At that moment, she turned and caught sight of him, and her face lit up as she rushed towards him. "Eric! Oh, I was so worried about you! Are you sick?"

He shook his head silently, and brought a hand to her cheek and gently brushed her hair from her face. "Sookie, how long will this 'break' go on?"

She opened her mouth to reply, but before she could speak, a tall boy with violet eyes wearing a football jersey walked up to them saying, "Good morning Sookie, may I walk you to class?"

Eric dropped his hand from her cheek as if he had been burned, flinching away from her. He turned away, brushing by his friends muttering, "This was a mistake," and exiting the school.

His band mates watched him go, and then turned back just in time to see Sookie accepting Quinn, the school quarterback's offer to escort her to class.

"This is just great," Bill mumbled. "It's someone else's turn to get him out of his room. I'm not doing it again."

* * *

After school, Sookie made her way to the garage, hoping to talk to Eric, but was sorely disappointed at hearing that he hadn't shown up, as no one was able to get him out of his bedroom, much less his house.

"Baby doll, you think maybe you could talk to that big, tall hunk of man? We's gots a gig on Friday, and there's gonna be music scouts there, and Lord knows we'll need our lead singer." Lafayette asked her, lightly tapping out a rhythm on his drum set. "And all yous has to do is shoot him a look with those big baby blues of yours, and he's down and out for the count."

Sookie rolled her eyes, huffing, but acquiesced, saying, "I think you guys are over estimating my power over him, but I'll give it my best shot." With that she left the garage, leaving four guys shaking their heads at her naiveté over her draw when it came to Eric Northman.

She hitched a ride with her brother over to Eric's house, noting, not for the first time, how much bigger it was than her own ramshackle farm house. Everything in Eric's home looked pristine, as if no one even lived there, which creeped her out, and always made her heart ache at thinking about Eric living in that big empty house all alone.

She waved goodbye to her brother and marched up to the front doorsteps, ringing the doorbell determinedly. She waited, and when no one answered, rang again, holding it, making it ring longer. When there was still no answer, she reached into the potted palm tree next to the door and pulled out the spare key, and let herself in.

Through months of practice, she navigated herself through the maze-like hallways taking the familiar and most efficient path to Eric's room. Once she reached it, she paused for a second, bracing herself for what was about to meet her.

She swung the door open stepping in, and then immediately stepped back, holding her hand over her nose and recoiling from the smell.

At the intrusion, Eric's golden head had popped up from under the comforter, soon followed by his whole body as he saw who his visitor was. "Sookie! What are you doing here?" He looked at her, his eyes shining and hopeful that she lost all of her nerve and blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"I'm going on a date with Quinn on Friday."

Immediately his eyes shuttered closed, the light in them extinguishing, and he retreated back to his bed, muttering, "Well, I hope your happy with him," and then pulling the covers over his head.

As she watched him, she suddenly found all of her pity and heartache vanish, only to be replaced by cold, hard anger. She marched over to his bed and ripped off the covers. "How dare you?" She shouted at him, as he scooched across the bed away from her fury, cowering away from her. "You don't get to treat me like shit, and then play the victim, that's not how it works buddy!" She emphasized the statement by poking her finger into his chest on each word.

"I only told you out of respect and pity, in fact I only came here out of courtesy to the band, who asked me to get your sorry ass out of bed for a gig you have on Friday! And believe, me you are going, if I have to drag you there myself, the band has worked too hard for it all to fall to pieces just because you are!"

Eric glared up at her angrily, ready to retort back to her, when all of a sudden the fight died from his body, and his tense shoulders sagged. "You're right. About everything. I'm sorry about how I've been treating you. Both today and in the past, you deserved better than that."

The moment he uttered those words, her insides melted, and she instantly wanted to throw herself into his arms and kiss him all over, and just let him off the hook, but she knew she couldn't. She had to wait until he truly learned his lesson. She didn't think it would take too long. She was positive they would be back together by Saturday morning. She just had to bide her time, and play her cards right.

* * *

"Oh Mother fucker," Sam breathed, and then immediately lit up a reefer and puffing away, after taking a look into the audience at the club.

"What?" Eric called from where he was drinking copious amounts of water.

"Nothing," Sam called back, trying and failing miserably to look innocent, only causing Eric to shoot him a weird look and turn away muttering about 'stoner freaks'.

Lafayette however immediately sidled up to the stoned guitar player and asked quietly. "What's up?"

Alcide answered for him, saying with venom, "Sookie's here."

Bill too came into the conversation asking, "So what? She's always at our gigs."

"She's with Quinn," Sam said, taking a great big puff of what was in his hands.

"Shit." The rest of them said together, but there was no more time for discussion as their name was announced and they scrambled to their instruments.

The moment the curtain was raised Eric spotted Sookie, he could always find her in a crowd, it was like he had a homing beacon on her. When he spotted her laughing and joking with Quinn, he nearly froze up, but then her words about how hard the band had worked came back to him, and he decided that for the time being he would ignore them and focus on singing.

He didn't know how he made it through the set, but he did, and afterwards the music scout came up to them, talking about how impressed he was over them, and then in a rush of words they were talking times to set up a meeting to play in front of some executives.

It was a whirlwind of handshakes before Eric realized the scout was gone, and while his band mates were laughing and congratulating each other, he knew there was only one person he had to tell, only one person he had to celebrate with.

He jumped off the stage and made a beeline for Sookie. He didn't care that she was on a date with that asshole Quinn, and he certainly didn't care that they were on a 'break' as he strode up to her, interrupting her conversation with her date, and picking her up and planting a big kiss on her as he twirled her around. "We did it!" He cried when they parted for air. "The scout loved us, we have an audition!"

As soon as she heard those words, she shrieked in joy and then planted a huge kiss of her own on his lips. They would come up for air shortly and then dive back for more, not noticing anyone and anything around them.

Quinn glared at them, his face turning an interesting shade of purple to match his eyes before striding off angrily, his fists clenched.

When they finally parted for air for longer than a second, Eric's forehead touched hers as they leaned into each other and he panted out, "Is the break over?"

She shot him a cocky grin as she replied, "You bet your ass it is."

**A/N: See, they can't really stay away from each other for long! Anyways, sorry about the delay, and the shortness of the chapter, but it really kicked my ass. Anyhow, in a couple of weeks I will have a new AH story up, Eric/Sookie of course, entitled 'Have Your Cake'. I'm really excited about it, but it will be a while, because it won't be posted until it is completely finished, how awesome is that? Next update will be Shattered. Thanks for reading!**

**Don't forget to serve up an entry for the Kiss a Cook Contest! Link is on my profile!**

**The Playlist**

Let's Just Fall In Love Again- Jason Castro


	14. Home

_Well I'm going home, back to the place where I belong  
And where your love has always been enough for me  
I'm not running from, no, I think you got me all wrong  
I don't regret this life I chose for me  
But these places and these faces are getting old  
So I'm going home_

**EPOV**

Three weeks. It had only been three weeks that Sookie had been in California, and already I could see her staying here forever.

Right now she was chatting with Lafayette as they packed for the beach. She had already scolded me for not having a house closer to the beach. She said that there was no excuse for me not to have beach front property, with all the money I made.

I just nodded along, and agreed with everything she said. Hell, I would buy a house _in _the ocean if it meant she would stay. Unfortunately, we had a disastrous cycle going on.

The more Sookie was around me, the happier I was, and the happier I was, the better Sookie felt about leaving me. As such, she was already talking about heading back to Louisiana, saying she had already been away from her job and house long enough.

For me, it would never be long enough.

I watched as she bounced around, packing her bags, not just for the beach, but her luggage as well, and my heart ached.

"You going to just let her walk out of your life again?" Alcide asked me from his position on the wall next to me.

I glared at him. "What the fuck do you want me to do? She wants to go home, I'm not going to hold her hostage."

He rolled his eyes at me, and I fought the urge not to slug him for being so fucking vague about everything. "Of course not, but maybe tell her how you feel?"

"She already knows. It hasn't changed anything."

"The fuck it hasn't!" I stared at him with surprise. He wasn't much of a curser. In fact, he wasn't much of a talker in general. For him to say this much was rare. He must feel strongly about it. "You got her to stay this long, just tell her how you feel about your break up, about everything, ask her to move in, propose to her, marry her, and then live happily ever after."

I shot him a frustrated glare. It wasn't that fucking easy. "It's not that fucking easy."

H snorted. "It is. You're the one making it difficult."

I ignored him and walked away. The fucker could be so difficult at times, it made us all thankful he didn't talk that often.

"Are you ready to go?" Sookie asked, skipping up to me with a big grin on her face, wearing a sundress that looked gorgeous on her and carrying a giant tote on her shoulder.

"Go where?" I panicked thinking she meant back to Louisiana so soon.

"To the beach of course." She shot me a weird look before turning and heading out the door, while Lafayette followed her, but not before sending me a knowing look. Mother fucker.

Somehow, and I still don't know how, but I managed to get changed, packed, and ready for the beach, where I nearly had a heart attack as upon our arrival, Sookie stripped off her sundress to reveal the world's skimpiest bikini.

I wasn't the only one who noticed either. Every guy in a one mile radius had their eyes on her, even the ones that were married. She never noticed of course, she never did.

"Come in the water Eric," she called out, paddling in the water a little with Lafayette next to her, letting it all hang out in a tiny speedo that I swear to god I was burning the moment we got home.

She was smiling and laughing, and I was really tempted but…. "No thank you. I've seen Jaws, you're swimming in their home."

"Aww, poor little rock star is afraid of the big, nasty sharks? Come on in baby, I'll protect you," Lafayette called out, swimming out further, and taking Sookie with him.

"Fuck you, until we moved to California you'd never even _seen_ the ocean, you wouldn't step foot in it for six months!" Sookie laughed loudly at that, which made me smirk. I loved making her laugh.

They kept pestering me about entering the ocean with them, but finally after about an hour, they gave up and played games with the rest of the guys while I read Rolling Stone and shook my head at how fucked up the Cyrus family is.

After about two hours of them being in the ocean, I found my sun being blocked by a shadow. I looked up to see what it was and my jaw dropped, and my eyebrows shot up. It was a knee jerk reaction, I couldn't even help it, because, there, standing in front of me was Sookie in all of her glory. And she was glorious.

She was standing there in her skimpy white bikini, her hair slicked back and curling slightly from the salty air. And she was dripping. Standing there, in white, covered in sand, dripping _wet_. She was every man's fantasy, the ultimate wet dream. I had the odd urge to roll off the blanket and wrap her in it. And then put her in an overcoat.

But I couldn't move because my eyebrows weren't the only thing that was up. Thank god I was laying down on a blanket, or else the paps would have gotten one hell of a show.

"… didn't have to come you know." Sookie was saying, and I blinked rapidly to get my mind back in gear. Right. Must not ogle. Will get slapped.

"What were you saying?" I asked politely, trying to act like I hadn't been caught up in porno-esque thoughts, and had indeed been listening to everything she said. I could tell by the roll of her eyes that I hadn't fooled her for a minute.

"I was saying that we didn't have to come to the beach today," she said huffily as she flopped down on the blanket next to me.

I looked at her, absolutely confused. "Yes we did. You wanted to come, and you look like you're having a great time."

"But you're not." She replied, turning her face up into the sun, basking in the rays. I sat next to her, basking in her beauty. "All you're doing is sitting reading a magazine, we could've just stayed at your apartment and done that on your balcony."

I rolled my eyes at her thoughtfulness. It was so like her. "Sookie, you're on vacation. A well-deserved vacation, I might add. I'm fine doing whatever you want to do."

She smiled sweetly at me, and then laid back down on the blanket with her eyes closed. I followed her lead and tuned everything out but the sun on my face, the sound of the crashing waves, and the smell of the tanginess of the ocean air mixed with the sweetness of her lavender shampoo.

"Eric, I don't want to go home."

My heart stopped. I swear to god, in that moment it really did. I didn't want to move, fearful I would break the moment. I didn't want to ask the question that was on the tip of my tongue, afraid that it would be a misunderstanding. I had two choices. Serious or flippant.

"I know what you mean, California's amazing." Flippant it was.

"Eric." I was struck by the depth in her voice, and I opened my eyes and turned my head. She had done the same, and I was struck by the blue of her eyes. Everyone said our shades were almost identical, but I begged to differ. Whenever I looked into her eyes, I always saw… _more_ than I did when I looked in the mirror.

"Sookie." I didn't know what to say.

"I know it's silly, I do. It's been seven years. We had a big fight, we broke up, and I've only been here with you for a couple of weeks, and I know it's silly, but I _miss _you, and I don't know if you feel the same, and maybe I'm making a big idiot out of myself, but I gotta say it. I _love _you."

I chuckled at her babbling, and the fearful look in her eyes, like I would honestly reject her. I stopped immediately though at the hurt look that came across her face. "Sookie, you're not an idiot. I'm the idiot, I've been so worried about you returning to Louisiana, and honestly if you hadn't said anything, I probably wouldn't have said anything either. I just want you to be happy. That's all I've ever wanted. Do you think you could be happy with me?"

There was tears in her eyes, most of which I'm sure were from my words, though I think she got some salt water in her eyes too.

She scooted closer to me on the blanket, and put her hands lightly on my chest. "I don't think it's truly possible to be happy without you Eric. I wouldn't know, I never really tried. I was miserable without you."

My heart seized up. Maybe this is what heart attacks feel like. I don't care, I'll die happy. In Sookie's arms once again.

I didn't even think about, just wrapped my arms around her, and kissed her soundly on the lips, reveling in the saltiness, the warmth, and the overall familiarity that was behind it. After Sookie, there had been some women, and I had kissed some of them, and done a lot more with the others, but it was nothing like this.

This was perfection.

We finally had to pull back for air, and she was giggling, light headed, while I was… not giggling. Manly chuckling is what I was doing.

Then she was looking at me with her big blue eyes, and I knew I had to say it, I had been putting it off for so long. Too long really, she deserved to hear it now. Hell, she should've heard it the first night she stayed in my apartment.

"Sookie, I love you."

Her grin lighting up her face was my reward, and it was better than any Grammy I had ever received. I was the champion, I was the hero, I was John Wayne, about to ride off into the sunset, but first….

"Does this mean you're staying in California with me? I mean, I'll move to Louisiana, but the industry is—."

She cut me off with a finger to my lips. "Of course I'm staying. Rock star." She pointed to me. "Waitress." She pointed to herself. "Which of these two do you think can easily transplant their lives? But we will be moving. I'm not living in that apartment, it's too stark, no warmth. And I want a pool. And an ocean view."

I grinned, feeling like my heart was about to jump out of my chest. She wanted an ocean view? I would buy her the whole fucking Pacific if she really wanted.

"Whatever you want," I told her sincerely, before leaning it for another kiss. However, before we could get too into it, we were interrupted by some stupid assholes cheering and applauding. I looked away from Sookie to see my guys standing there with smug little smiles on their faces. I threw my sandal out them and they easily dodged it. "Get out of here you little shits! If we wanted you to watch we would've put it on the movie screen and bought some fucking popcorn!" I shouted at them, and they ran back in the ocean laughing their asses off.

Next to me, Sookie giggled, making me look down at her with a questioning look. "I see the language hasn't changed."

I smirked at that, and then taking a quick look around and seeing there was no one really paying attention to us, I sneakily placed her hand on my cock that was already standing ready for action. "When we get back to the apartment, you're going to see that a lot hasn't changed. And if it has, it's only for the better."

She surprised me, I thought she would blush and snatch her hand away, but the little minx sent me a smirk to rival my own and gave me a few firm strokes, causing my hips to buck against my will. "Cocky much?" She asked.

"Very," I replied and kissed her passionately once more.

**A/N: Hello. I wanted to add this at the beginning, but I figured that after so long, you would probably just skip it anyway. I wanted to say sorry for the long period with no updates. I recently went through a personal tragedy that was very hard for me. I won't bore you with the details here, but my profile has been updated with a further explanation of my absence if you wish to read it. **

**This is an excerpt of a statement I felt I had to make. You can read the full one on my profile:**

**However. I have to say this. I **_**have**_** to. I am a person. A young person actually. Twenty. What does that mean? Well, it means that I hold down a part-time job, go to school full time (taking six classes this semester), look after my elderly grandmother once a week, volunteer when I'm not working/at school/taking care of my grandmother, and oh yeah, in between I try to have a life. And then I write. It's not a lot of time for writing, but I do my best, truly. And that was all before my personal tragedy.**

**So I don't really appreciate it when I receive a review that consists of this:**

"**freaking update you whore!... uhhh yeah"**

**I won't lie, I read that on a very bad day. It was eleven at night, I had just laid down in bed after being home for only three hours because I had spent twelve hours at school. I was exhausted and depressed, and then I read that. I very nearly rolled out of bed at eleven, marched over to my computer, and deleted this story. It was really on the tip of my fingers. I was hovering over delete.**

**But one thing stopped me, and that was the other reader's. The nice ones. The ones who have politely and sweetly asked me in reviews and PMs when I will be updating soon, and was everything alright? So this chapter is not for the reviewer who called me a whore in a horrendously grammatically incorrect sentence. This is for my wonderful readers, if I have any left, lol!**

**The Playlist**

**Home- Daughtry**


End file.
